A complete chain-of-custody record ties a specific lot identifier to a sequence of handoffs: recovery personnel, the processing facility, storage conditions and dates, the shipping carrier and container, and finally the clinic that received it. Each handoff is a point where a documentation gap, such as an unrecorded temperature reading or a lot number mismatch, breaks the chain and reduces confidence in everything that follows.
On the clinic side, chain of custody can continue past receipt. If applicable to your practice, log which lot was used for which patient record; this complements what the supplier documents upstream.
When evaluating a supplier, ask what a complete chain-of-custody packet looks like for a given lot and whether it is available at the time of purchase, not only after an issue arises. A supplier that can hand over this record on request, tied to the specific lot number on a shipment, gives a buyer more to evaluate than one offering only general statements about its process.
A broken or incomplete chain of custody is one of the first things worth checking when evaluating a new biologics supplier, since it is the practical evidence behind every other quality claim.