Dian, co-owner of Mutiara BV, has been at the forefront of the company’s growth as a small food producer navigating the challenges of FDA compliance and digital traceability. With her hands-on involvement in both operations and strategy, she has been determined to find solutions that ensure food safety, efficiency, and scalability. In this conversation, Dian speaks with Ivana from Avstarna, who works closely with food manufacturers to understand their challenges and provide practical, user-friendly tools. Together, they reflect on how Avstarna helped Mutiara BV move away from manual tracking toward a flexible digital traceability system that strengthens compliance and supports future growth.

👉 Read the full interview below to learn how Mutiara BV and Avstarna are building smarter, scalable solutions for food traceability.

What traceability and FDA compliance challenges did you face before Avstarna?

As a small-scale snack production company, we faced significant challenges in meeting FDA compliance requirements for implementing a structured food traceability and track-and-trace system. One of our main concerns was finding a digital solution that was not only compliant but also simple for all employees to understand and use, regardless of technical background.

Why did you choose Avstarna as your traceability solution?

Initially, we relied heavily on handwritten records for tracking and tracing, which was inefficient and prone to human error. We later adopted a basic digital format, which improved accessibility but still lacked proper integration. That’s when we decided to try Avstarna—to see whether their platform could provide a user-friendly and scalable food traceability solution for our production operations.

How has Avstarna improved compliance and operations?

Our experience with Avstarna has been very positive. While there is still room for improvement—especially in stock management and alignment with the production flow—the Avstarna team has been responsive and solution-oriented. They took time to understand our processes and worked proactively to adapt the system to our needs. This collaborative approach has been vital for a small food producer like ours, where resources are limited and every decision must be strategic.

Which Avstarna features are most valuable to your team?

One feature we rely on most is order preparation (order prep and labeling) integrated with batch tracing. This has greatly strengthened our traceability and compliance process. We see strong potential in expanding our use of the system as our company grows. Because Avstarna is flexible and customizable, we believe it can support future scalability—tracking everything from raw ingredients to finished products more effectively.

How easy was it to implement Avstarna?

Cost is usually one of the biggest barriers for small production businesses when adopting a digital traceability system. Most market solutions are tied to large, expensive enterprise software suites with many functions we don’t need, making them cost-prohibitive. Avstarna was affordable and practical to implement, which made the transition much easier.

What positive surprises did you discover with Avstarna?

Avstarna provides exactly what we need for compliance and traceability, without overwhelming us with unnecessary tools—and without the hefty enterprise price tag.

How can Avstarna support your company’s growth?

We started with Avstarna’s core features, but we value the ability to expand into additional modules when needed—such as production planning, advanced stock management, sales reporting, order handling, and customer management. This flexibility ensures Avstarna can grow alongside our business needs.

What would you tell other manufacturers considering Avstarna?

Partnering with Avstarna has been a smart and strategic choice. They have proven to be a flexible, supportive partner who listens, collaborates, and actively helps us grow in compliance and efficiency.

What improvements would make Avstarna even more effective?

We appreciate how responsive and fast the Avstarna team is when rolling out updates. Many improvements have been delivered faster than expected, often based directly on our feedback. While this rapid pace of change can be challenging to adjust to, we see it as a strength—it shows adaptability and commitment. We have learned to embrace an iterative process, allowing the system to evolve with us and remain practical for real-world use.

Which new features would you like to see in Avstarna?

We would like to see continued development of the stock management module, with deeper integration into the production flow. This would help streamline our operations even further. Given Avstarna’s collaborative and customer-focused approach, we are confident these improvements are on the horizon.