UNFI vs. KeHE Item Setup: Where Your Data Gets Rejected

A $12M natural foods brand submits new item setup to UNFI and KeHE in the same week. Same product. Same UPCs. Same case dimensions. The KeHE submission goes into review. The UNFI packet comes back rejected — case dimensions in the portal didn't match the spec sheet uploaded with it.

Neither portal is broken. They just fail differently.

UNFI rejects at the document layer. KeHE rejects at the barcode and date format layer. Understanding which portal fails at which point is the preparation work — it determines what you check before you submit, not after you get the rejection.

UNFI's portal fails at the document layer

UNFI's new item process runs through four portal tabs: Basic Info, Pricing & Specs, Product Attributes, and Shelf Life/Expiration. The central rejection mechanism is a mismatch between portal entries and uploaded documents. The required uploads — a GSA with a physical signature in PDF format, label images showing front panel, back panel, and nutritionals, and a price/spec sheet — must match portal entries exactly. A case dimension in the portal that differs from the spec sheet by a fraction of an inch causes a packet rejection.

Shelf life has its own threshold: 75% minimum remaining life at time of submission. Below 75%, the item requires Supplier Manager approval before processing continues. A brand submitting late in a product's shelf cycle hits this gate.

For brands with GDSN capability, UNFI mandates submission through a data pool — Syndigo, 1WorldSync, or IX-One — not the manual portal. This is a hard requirement, not a preference. The merger that consolidated Syndigo and 1WorldSync reduced the number of qualifying GDSN partners to navigate, but the requirement itself didn't change. UNFI specifies the content types: a marketing-quality consumer unit front image showing brand name, product description, and net content; a case image; and a nutritionals panel image. If a brand delivers images through the manual portal instead of GDSN, UNFI captures them on the supplier's behalf and charges $150 per SKU.

The pre-submission checklist for UNFI: confirm the GSA is physically signed, confirm label images show all required panels, confirm every portal entry matches every document field, and confirm image delivery runs through a GDSN-accredited data pool.

KeHE CONNECT fails at the barcode and date layer

KeHE's rejection triggers are different in kind.

The barcode hierarchy KeHE requires: GTIN-12 at the each (sellable unit) level, ITF-14 or GS1-128 at the case level, SSCC-18 at the pallet level. KeHE prefers GS1-128 over ITF-14 for cases — and for products on the FDA Food Traceability List, GS1-128 is mandatory. ITF-14 alone will not satisfy FSMA 204 traceability requirements for FTL products. A brand submitting ITF-14 case barcodes for a FTL product will receive a non-compliance fee on invoices and risk product restriction or discontinuation.

The expiration date enforcement is specific in a way that catches brands with international supply chains. KeHE requires expiration dates in MM/DD/YY format, in English, on the exterior of the shipping case and on the product itself. Closed-coded products must show decoded dates on the carton or packing list. International co-manufacturers typically format dates as DD/MM/YY. That format fails KeHE's requirement even when the date is correct.

In 2025, KeHE eliminated its $40 per SKU product image fee. The image is still needed — only the charge for a missing one was removed.

One portal mandates GDSN infrastructure, the other doesn't

The structural asymmetry between the two portals is the GDSN requirement. UNFI mandates it for capable suppliers. KeHE has no equivalent documented mandate.

A brand without a GDSN data pool subscription can complete KeHE CONNECT item setup through the manual portal. It cannot complete UNFI item setup correctly without one. GDSN infrastructure — establishing credentials with a data pool, publishing the item record, confirming GTIN synchronization — adds 2–4 weeks to UNFI onboarding for brands doing it for the first time.

GDSN setup needs to happen before the first UNFI new item submission. A brand that waits until after the first rejection to set up a data pool subscription has already added two to four weeks to its launch timeline. For KeHE, the same infrastructure is useful but not currently required by the portal.

The cost difference for a ten-SKU launch: if images are missing from GDSN on UNFI submission, the $150/SKU capture fee runs $1,500 before the items are even active. KeHE's equivalent charge is now zero.

The same package fails one portal and clears the other

There are specific field-level divergences that trip up brands submitting to both portals simultaneously.

The expiration date format is one. KeHE specifies MM/DD/YY, in English, on the carton exterior. UNFI requires a shelf life percentage and documents a 75% threshold; its carton date format requirement is not specified in public-facing materials at the same level of detail. A brand can clear UNFI's shelf life gate while still failing KeHE's date format check.

The case barcode is another. Both portals accept GS1-128 and ITF-14 for most products. But KeHE's FTL mandate means SKUs on the Food Traceability List need GS1-128 at case level for KeHE — even if ITF-14 would pass UNFI for the same product. A brand that standardized on ITF-14 for case barcodes needs to upgrade those SKUs before KeHE submission, regardless of what UNFI accepted.

The same item master fields that generate chargebacks at both portals — case dimensions, GTIN assignments, pack configuration — are the same ones that trigger item setup rejections. A brand that has resolved those field errors before submission avoids both the setup delay and the downstream compliance cost.

Find the gaps before you submit

Lailara runs a pre-submission data audit against UNFI and KeHE's current item setup requirements — checking portal field entries against uploaded documents, verifying barcode specifications and FTL classification, confirming GDSN image delivery is in place for UNFI, and flagging expiration date format issues before they reach the portal. The deliverable is a gap report for each distributor, resolved before the first submission. If you're onboarding new items to UNFI or KeHE in the next 60 days, book a 30-minute scoping call.

See the methodology behind this post. The worked example — 50 SKUs, 5 product lines, 6 contracted retailers, $458,000/year in traced chargebacks — is a live demo you can open and explore. Product Data Health Audit →

The Ten Decisions is the map behind this post. Every data problem a $25M specialty food brand runs into — chargebacks, deductions, launch economics, OTIF gaps — maps to one of ten decisions being made without adequate information. See the full picture →