Batch and expiry tracking UAE food and pharma traders can trust

You ask in plain English, the AI does the bookkeeping work, and you or your accountant approve the result.

• You ask: “Which batches of 1-litre laban do we still hold, and which customers got lot 26-0914?”
• The AI agent: The AI reads the batch history for the item, lists the quantity left per lot and warehouse, and pulls every sales invoice that drew from lot 26-0914 with the customer name, date and quantity.
• You review: You confirm the list against the physical count, decide whether to call the customers, and approve any write-off journal the AI drafts for stock that has passed its date.

Lot and batch inventory sits on the HelloBooks Business plan, together with multi-warehouse stock. When a supplier bill or goods receipt arrives, you record the batch reference printed on the packaging. The AI reads it from the scanned delivery note or Arabic and English supplier invoice and suggests the lot field, so the warehouse team is not retyping codes.

When you raise a sales invoice, you choose which batch the goods come from. That link is what lets you trace a lot forward to customers and backward to the supplier bill and its cost.

• Receive: supplier bill or goods receipt records quantity, cost and batch
• Store: each batch belongs to a warehouse, for example Al Quoz or Sharjah Industrial Area
• Sell: the invoice line carries the batch, so cost of sales uses that lot
• Write off: expired or damaged lots leave stock through an adjustment with a reason

HelloBooks tracks batches; it is not a dedicated pharmacy expiry system with shelf alerts. Many owners therefore build the expiry month into the batch reference itself, such as LOT2611-EXP2703 for stock received in November 2026 that expires in March 2027. The AI can then sort and filter on that reference when you ask what expires next quarter.

If you hold regulated medicines, keep your licensed pharmacy system as the dispensing record and use HelloBooks for the money side: cost, VAT, supplier balances and write-offs. If you want expiry handled as its own field or report, ask us. Customisations to item setup and reports can be discussed by booking a call at /book-a-demo or emailing hello@hellobooks.ai.

Your company receives 400 cartons of yoghurt at AED 18 each, batch LOT2610-EXP2611, total AED 7,200 plus 5% VAT of AED 360. You sell 340 cartons across 12 supermarket invoices. At month end, 60 cartons are left and two days from expiry. You donate 20 and destroy 40.

The AI drafts a stock adjustment removing 60 cartons from that batch, AED 1,080 at cost, posted to a stock write-off expense account, and attaches the destruction note you photographed. Your accountant then checks whether the destroyed or donated goods need any VAT adjustment before the next VAT 201 return, because that is a judgement call the software should not make for you.