Manual entry is the failure point
Hand-keyed logs are slow, incomplete, and impossible to audit backwards. The data you need most in a recall is the data least likely to have been written down correctly.
Axis Technology Partner
FSMA 204 & GDST-aligned
The record writes itself.
Tangent Solutions builds passive traceability systems: cameras and computer vision that capture what actually happened on the line — lot, time, weight, movement, hand-off — without anyone stopping to write it down. The compliance file becomes a by-product of the work instead of another job at the end of the day.
- Event
- Receiving
- Traceability lot
- TLC-2291
- Written
- Auto
Built on
Axis Communications
FDA FSMA 204
GDST / EPCIS
ONVIF & edge AI
CamStreamer
The gap nobody budgets for
Traceability fails at the point where someone has to stop working to type.
Every food and industrial traceability programme has the same weak link: a person, holding something heavy, being asked to record data accurately. Paper logs go missing. Tablets get wet. Entries get backfilled from memory on Friday afternoon. When the request comes, the records don't reconcile — and the recall window is 24 hours.
24 hours is not much time
FSMA 204 requires an Electronic Sortable Spreadsheet on request. If assembling it means a scavenger hunt through binders, you are already late before you start.
Nobody has spare labour for it
Compliance headcount competes directly with production headcount. Passive capture is the only version of this that doesn't cost you a shift.
What we do
Three ways we put cameras to work
Same underlying capability — detection, tracking, and structured event data — pointed at three very different problems.
Passive traceability & FSMA 204
Critical Tracking Events captured from the camera feed and written to a structured lot register, with a one-click FDA export.
- Receiving, transformation and shipping events
- Immutable timestamps on every record
- Electronic Sortable Spreadsheet export
- GDST / EPCIS event stream out
Custom computer vision
Bespoke detection and classification models trained on your product, your line, your lighting — not a generic off-the-shelf SKU.
- Size, grade and defect classification
- Count, yield and throughput analytics
- PPE and safety-compliance monitoring
- Edge deployment where bandwidth is thin
Camera systems & integration
As an Axis Technology Partner we design, specify and integrate the physical layer — so the analytics land on infrastructure that can carry them.
- Site survey, camera placement, network design
- Axis ACAP and on-camera analytics
- LPR, perimeter and access monitoring
- Public livestreaming via CamStreamer
How passive capture works
Four steps between a camera and an audit-ready file.
No new hardware for the crew to carry. No app to remember. The camera watches the work, the model recognises the event, and the register fills itself in.
Observe
Cameras cover the points where lots change state — receiving, grading, transformation, shipping.
Recognise
Models trained on your product identify the crate, the label, the scale reading, the operator, the movement.
Record
Each detection becomes a structured event with a Traceability Lot Code, timestamp, location and quantity — validated on the way in.
Export
When a request arrives, the register produces an FDA-ready Electronic Sortable Spreadsheet in one action.
Proof of work
Systems we've actually built
Case study · Aquaculture
Chilean fish farm — feed tracking & PPE compliance
A custom vision system monitoring PPE compliance across the working deck while automatically counting fish-food bags emptied into each silo — replacing a manual tally that had never reconciled cleanly with inventory.
Result: feed inventory and planning fully automated, with real-time
worker safety compliance on the same camera infrastructure.
Product · Traceability platform
CrabTrace — FSMA 204 traceability for shellfish aquaculture
Our reference implementation of passive traceability: operations feed, environmental monitoring with threshold alerts, harvest history, an FSMA 204 lot register with one-click FDA export, a GDST/EPCIS event stream, and a five-layer data-quality system that catches bad records before they enter the register.
The same architecture generalises to any lot-based operation — shellfish, finfish,
produce, or cold-chain distribution.
Quality & grading
Automated size and grade classification, shell and surface defect detection, harvest-readiness assessment on the conveyor or in the field.
Environmental & stock health
Biomass and growth tracking, feed-waste reduction, water-condition thresholds and real-time alerting on surface and underwater feeds.
Live camera streaming
Public-facing livestreams built with CamStreamer and Flightradar24 — aviation and site cameras with real-time data overlays.
Industries
Where this gets deployed
Traceability is a seafood-and-produce problem first, but the underlying capability is the same everywhere something moves through a process.
Aquaculture & seafood
FlagshipShellfish and finfish grading, harvest logging, feed tracking, FSMA 204 lot registers and PPE compliance.
Agriculture & produce
Harvest-ready detection, yield forecasting, early disease and pest identification, Food Traceability List compliance.
Manufacturing
In-line quality control, defect detection, assembly verification and production-line automation.
Warehousing & logistics
Inventory and pallet tracking, dock-door event capture, cold-chain hand-offs and safety compliance.
Retail
Shelf and stock analytics, footfall and dwell measurement, loss prevention and queue monitoring.
Healthcare
Imaging-analysis support, patient-area monitoring, hygiene and protocol compliance.
Why Tangent
Boutique attention, industrial reliability
We build, not resell
Models trained on your data and your conditions. No repackaged generic detector that half-works on your product.
Hardware-literate
Axis Technology Partner. We speak lens choice, lux, mounting, PoE budget and network load — not just Python.
Compliance-aware
FSMA 204 Key Data Elements, GDST and EPCIS event structures designed in from the start, not bolted on later.
You talk to the builder
A small practice by choice. The person who scoped your system is the person who writes it and answers the phone.
Common questions
Straight answers
What is passive traceability?
Passive traceability means the record is created by observing work that is already happening — cameras and sensors log the event automatically — rather than by asking a worker to stop and type it in. The compliance record becomes a by-product of the operation instead of an extra task.
Do I need to replace my existing cameras?
Usually not. We're an Axis Technology Partner and work with most ONVIF-compliant IP cameras. Where existing coverage is adequate we build on it; where it isn't, we specify only the additional views the traceability model actually requires.
Does installing a camera system make me FSMA 204 compliant?
No software makes you compliant on its own — compliance is a programme covering your records, your procedures and your traceability plan. What our systems do is capture and structure the Key Data Elements so that producing an FDA Electronic Sortable Spreadsheet within 24 hours is a single export rather than a week of searching.
How long does a deployment take?
A scoped pilot on one line or one site typically runs four to eight weeks from site survey to a working capture-and-export loop. Full rollout depends on site count and network readiness.
Do you work outside food and aquaculture?
Yes. The same detection-and-event architecture runs in manufacturing QC, warehouse and dock operations, retail analytics, and healthcare monitoring. Food traceability is where the regulatory pressure is sharpest, which is why it leads — but it isn't the limit of the work.
Let's look at your line.
Tell us where the records break down. We'll tell you honestly whether cameras can fix it — and what it would take.