How do you make sure the bulk shipment matches the approved sample?
Approve a sample taken from the packed commercial lot, keep a sealed twin of it, and write the facility, the breakage rule and the season into the contract. The classic first-order disappointment with freeze-dried mangosteen is a beautiful hand-picked sample followed by a container of broken, cream-yellow arils from a different dryer. Each step below closes one way that happens. Together they make the sample you approve the standard your container is loaded against.
Where does the sample come from?
From the lot you are buying, after it is packed. A sample made in a pilot dryer, or picked by hand from the best tray, shows what a facility can do on a good day. A pre-shipment sample (PSS) drawn from sealed commercial bags shows what is actually going into your container.
FruitBuys draws the PSS from the packed commercial lot and ships it by courier within 24–48 hours of packing:
| What you receive | Purpose |
|---|---|
| 100–200 g in two sealed foil pouches, each with a desiccant sachet | Enough for sensory, breakage and water activity checks |
| Pouch 1, for your team | Open it for appearance, taste, crispness and breakage |
| Pouch 2, lot-code sealed | Keep it closed for your own laboratory or as your reference |
| Lot code on both pouches | Ties the sample to the cartons in the container |
The second pouch is the part most buyers undervalue. It is your independent record of the lot: if a question comes up after arrival, you compare the container with a sealed sample of the same lot, not with a memory of how the first one tasted.
What should you check on the sample?
Four things, all quick, all decisive for mangosteen.
- Shape. Whole arils should be complete flower-shaped clusters, with their segments still joined. Some separate into single segments in the bag; an intact single segment is whole product.
- Breakage. Weigh the contents of a bag, pick out fragments under half of a single segment, and weigh them. The standard is ≤10% by weight; the tray-packed option is ≤5%.
- Colour and clean taste. Ivory white to light cream, no browning, no purple rind, no yellow latex specks and no hard, glassy pieces. A natural pink blush at the crown and along the seams, and the crisp natural seed inside larger segments, are conforming. A clean, sweet-tart taste with no bitterness is the sign of careful peeling and sorting.
- Water activity. At or below 0.30, measured to ISO 18787. Read it against the 0.30 limit rather than against the decimal on the COA, since water activity shifts slightly with instrument and room temperature.
When all four pass, approve the sample in writing. That written approval makes it the reference standard for the container.
How do you know the container comes from the same facility?
Because the facility is locked into your contract. FruitBuys coordinates the orchards and contracted processing, and for each customer contract it locks one qualified processing facility. Any change of facility needs prior written notice and re-approval of the pre-shipment sample before production moves. You also have audit access to the facility.
For mangosteen, that lock matters more than for most fruits. The season is short and the harvest peaks in June, which is exactly when an unmanaged supply chain is tempted to split an order across whichever dryers have space. Different dryers mean different cycles, different moisture curves and different colour. With the facility locked, your container comes off the same line, under the same process standard, that made the sample you approved.
What changes between early and late season?
The fruit, and therefore what each format looks like. Main-season mangosteen from May to mid-July gives the largest, firmest arils at the top of the 16–19 °Brix range, with the brightest ivory colour. That is the fruit for whole arils. Later fruit is softer and more variable; it still makes good freeze-dried mangosteen, but it suits diced and powder better than whole arils.
Arils are frozen at −25 °C in season and freeze-dried to order through the year, so a container shipped in February may come from June fruit. For your contract, that means two simple things:
- Book whole arils against main-season frozen stock, with volume confirmed before April, and approve a PSS from the production lot that will fill your container.
- Approve a new PSS for each production lot, whatever month it ships. Same specification, same facility, but each lot gets its own reference, tied to the harvest window its fruit came from.
What is retained, and for how long?
A retained sample from every container lot, kept by FruitBuys for the full shelf life of the lot. Combined with the sealed second pouch in your hands, that gives both sides a reference from the same lot for as long as the product is on the market.
If a question arises months later, both samples can go to the same independent ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory, and the answer rests on measurement rather than on recollection. That is what turns a quality dispute from a negotiation into a check.
How is the container accepted on arrival?
By the same five checks used on the sample, agreed in the contract as a shared acceptance protocol. Both sides read the container against the same list, on a few cartons drawn from across the load, within the standard claim windows: 14 days from devanning for packaging, appearance, breakage and water activity, and 30 days for laboratory results.
| Check | How | Accept when |
|---|---|---|
| Packaging | Bags sealed, flat, desiccant present; cartons dry | No cut or inflated bags; no wet cartons |
| Breakage | Weigh a bag; weigh fragments under half a single segment | ≤10% by weight (≤5% tray-packed) |
| Appearance | Compare with the approved PSS | Same shape, ivory colour, no purple rind; pink blush and seed conforming |
| Water activity | One bag per sampled carton | ≤0.30 |
| Lot codes | Match cartons to COA and PSS | Same lot |
Take cartons from the front, middle and back of the container. Include at least one carton from the top layer, nearest the door.
When should you start with a trial or LCL order?
When you are qualifying FruitBuys as a new supplier, testing a format, or launching a new SKU. Trial and LCL lots ship with the in-house release log (moisture, water activity and sensory) plus the periodic surveillance report. If your QA policy needs an independent COA on a trial lot, FruitBuys arranges it at net laboratory cost and credits the fee in full against your first container order.
Whole arils are where the retail value is, so most private-label buyers want to test them before committing a full container. The right way to do that is the tray-packed option: arils placed by hand, breakage held to ≤5%, from 500 kg, which is exactly the size of a first OEM run. Trial lots by LCL or air pass through more handling than a container loaded once at origin, and tray packing is what carries the clusters through it intact, so your market test shows the product your consumer will actually open.
What should the contract say?
| Clause | Wording to include |
|---|---|
| Reference standard | The written-approved PSS from the packed commercial lot, lot code [x] |
| Facility | One named facility; change only with prior written notice and PSS re-approval; buyer audit access |
| Format and breakage | Whole arils; intact single segments conforming; breakage = fragments under half a single segment, ≤10% by weight (≤5% tray-packed) |
| Season | Production window and harvest month of the lot |
| Retained sample | Kept by supplier for the full shelf life of each container lot |
| Lot documents | Lot COA per container, matched to PSS lot code |
| Claim windows | 14 days from devanning for packaging, appearance, breakage and aw; 30 days for laboratory results |
Request a pre-shipment sample
Tell us your format, volume and target month. FruitBuys draws the PSS from the packed commercial lot, sends both sealed pouches, and holds the retained sample for the life of your lot. Full product details are on the freeze-dried mangosteen page. The complete buyer checklist is in what to check before buying freeze-dried mangosteen in bulk.
FAQ
What is a pre-shipment sample?
A 100–200 g sample drawn from the packed commercial lot, sent in two sealed pouches: one to open, one to keep sealed for your laboratory or as your reference.
How is breakage measured on whole arils?
Only fragments under half of a single segment count as broken. Intact single segments that separate from an aril count as whole product. The standard limit is 10% by weight; tray-packed is 5%.
Can FruitBuys change the processing facility after I approve the sample?
Only with prior written notice and re-approval of a new pre-shipment sample.
How long is the retained sample kept?
For the full shelf life of each container lot.
Should my first order be a full container?
Not necessarily. A trial or LCL order is a good way to qualify the product; diced or tray-packed arils give the truest picture on small shipments.
Does one sample cover every container?
No. Approve a pre-shipment sample for each production lot. Arils are frozen in season and dried to order, so lots shipped months apart can come from different stages of the harvest.
Is a pink blush on the arils a reason to reject a lot?
No. A natural pink blush at the crown and along the segment seams is conforming product.
