When it comes to automating compliance in the food and beverage (F&B) industry, misconceptions about artificial intelligence (AI) are everywhere. One persistent myth? That AI can handle familiar document formats just fine, but it can’t accurately handle unfamiliar, supplier-specific variations. In reality, AI has evolved far beyond this outdated assumption, especially when it comes to managing supplier COA formats.

Understanding the challenge: Supplier COA formats

For many F&B companies, managing certificates of analysis (COAs) is a high-stakes game of spot-the-difference. Suppliers don’t follow a single format; instead, they send COAs that can vary wildly in layout, terminology, and structure. It’s like trying to solve a puzzle with pieces from ten different boxes. Traditional optical character recognition (OCR) tools may be able to extract text, but they’re easily tripped up by these inconsistencies—leading to errors, frustration, and a whole lot of double-checking.

The limitations of OCR and manual zoning

Legacy OCR systems rely on what’s called “manual zoning.” This means users must draw boxes over a document—one for each data point like “moisture” or “ash”—and manually teach the software where to look. If the COA layout changes (and it will), users must go back and rezone the entire document. These rigid templates work fine until a supplier decides to redesign their form, shift a field, or use different terminology.

Moreover, traditional OCR can only read characters, not understand them. It can capture the letters “mstr.” but has no idea if that means “moisture,” “master,” or something else entirely.

TraceGains’ Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) changes all of that. It still relies on OCR, but as just one component in a much more powerful architecture. OCR is used to extract the raw characters, but from there, the AI takes over—analyzing, interpreting, and contextualizing the data. 

With IDP, there’s no need for manual zoning or rigid templates. The system understands that “mstr.” likely refers to “moisture” based on surrounding context and historical patterns. It recognizes not just what characters say, but what they mean—thanks to cutting-edge AI paired with strong, contextual data structures. This blend of OCR and context-aware automation is what makes IDP such a breakthrough for processing supplier COA formats.

How IDP manages diverse supplier COA formats

IDP is the industry’s first AI-powered solution designed specifically for F&B compliance. It’s not just a better OCR—it’s a complete rethink of document processing. IDP combines the natural language processing capabilities of modern AI with a powerful knowledge layer to interpret the structure and meaning behind supplier COA formats, allowing it to:

• Accurately extract data regardless of layout changes

• Understand abbreviations and supplier-specific terminology

• Improve over time with every interaction

Correct an abbreviation once, and IDP remembers it. Make a manual adjustment, and it doesn’t just fix the current COA—it can recall that information in the future. That’s not just smart. That’s intelligent automation.

The power of AI overrides

Let’s face it: suppliers get creative. They rename fields, flip layouts, or invent new ways to phrase the same thing. That’s why IDP includes an override feature. When the AI encounters something new or confusing, you can correct it—and it will remember that correction the next time it sees a similar format.

This is where IDP really proves its value. It doesn’t make you do the same work twice. Every override becomes a new data point in its ongoing education, reducing the need for future corrections and boosting long-term efficiency.

Why TraceGains IDP is built different

We didn’t just teach an AI to read documents—we enhanced it with an industry-specific knowledge layer using proprietary taxonomies, rule sets, and strong contextual data structures. That means IDP isn’t guessing when it parses your COAs. It knows what to look for, what it means, and where it typically appears.

Accuracy that builds trust in AI

Thanks to its deep contextual knowledge layer and built-in feedback loop, IDP delivers impressive accuracy in data extraction—so compliance teams can spend less time checking work and more time moving forward. If you caught our previous myth-busting blog, “Why AI in Compliance Isn’t the Risk Everyone Thinks It Is,” you’ll remember how AI reduces human error. IDP takes that a step further by adapting and adjusting to supplier-specific nuances in real time. 

5 reasons IDP handles supplier COA formats like a pro

1. No more manual zoning: Say goodbye to drawing boxes and adjusting templates every time a COA changes. 

2. Understands abbreviations: Whether it’s “mstr.,” “prot.,” or some other supplier shorthand, IDP gets the message. 

3. Built on industry experience: With nearly 20 years of F&B data powering its intelligence, IDP knows the difference between apple juice and juice concentrate. 

4. Gets better as it goes: Corrections and overrides aren’t just fixes—they’re fuel for smarter performance. 

5. Consistency across suppliers: Even when formats differ, IDP delivers uniform results you can trust. 

Tackling supplier COA formats, smarter with IDP

IDP is transforming how F&B companies handle supplier COA formats—making compliance faster, smarter, and far less frustrating. Learn more about TraceGains’ Intelligent Document Processing. 

Up next in our myth-busting series: We’ll tackle the idea that “AI Can’t Handle Complex COAs with Multiple Lots.”