Freeze-Dried Strawberry RFQ and Sample Checklist: From Quote to a Container That Matches
A complete one-page RFQ gets you a firm quote for freeze-dried strawberries within 24–48 hours. Ten questions tell you whether a supplier can deliver it. Four controls make sure the container matches the sample you approved: a golden sample, a pre-shipment sample from the packed lot, a retained sample from every lot, and one locked processing facility.
Most sourcing problems with freeze-dried fruit start before the first container: a vague RFQ that produces quotes nobody can compare, a sample made specially for the buyer, and no written reference for what “the same” means. This checklist is built for procurement and QA teams. Use it with every supplier you compare, including FruitBuys Vietnam.
| Key numbers | |
|---|---|
| Quote | 24–48 hours after a complete RFQ |
| Samples | Prepared in 3–5 working days, plus courier |
| Pre-shipment sample | 100–200 g from the packed lot, two sealed foil pouches, by courier within 24–48 hours of packing |
| Retained sample | Every container lot, kept for the full shelf life (up to 24 months) |
| Contract limits | Moisture ≤5.0%, water activity ≤0.30, cut size ±1–2 mm, breakage typically ≤5–8% for whole and sliced |
| Claim windows | 14 days from devanning for packaging, appearance, breakage and aw; 30 days for lab results |
What to put in your RFQ: the 10 fields
A supplier can only quote what you specify. These ten fields turn “price for freeze-dried strawberries” into a quote you can compare line by line.
| # | Field | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Product and cut | Sliced 5–8 mm; or dice 5–10 mm; or powder 60–80 mesh |
| 2 | Application | Cereal inclusion, chocolate, beverage premix, retail snack |
| 3 | Annual volume, by quarter | 4 × 20ft per year, first container in Q1 |
| 4 | First order | Trial pallet, LCL or full 20ft |
| 5 | Packing | 1–5 kg foil bags in 58 × 28 × 34 cm cartons; or retail pouches with your artwork |
| 6 | Destination and Incoterm | FOB Cat Lai, CIF Rotterdam, or DDP to your warehouse |
| 7 | Target market and label | EU, US, UK or UAE; nutrition panel and claims needed |
| 8 | Quality limits | Moisture, water activity, micro limits, breakage, colour against sample |
| 9 | Documents and tests | COA per lot, EUR.1, phytosanitary certificate; extended panels such as pesticide residues |
| 10 | Timing and payment | Required arrival date; T/T or L/C at sight |
Field 2 is the one most buyers leave out, and it changes the answer most. Slices for a cereal and dice for a chocolate bar come from different fruit, different cycles and different packing, and a supplier who knows the application can quote the cut that does the job at the lowest cost per kilo. Dice and crumble typically quote 20–30% below whole berries per kilo, so an RFQ that says “cereal inclusion, 5–10 mm” often comes back cheaper than one that says “freeze-dried strawberries”.
The 10 questions to ask any supplier before the deposit
Ask every supplier the same questions and compare the answers in writing.
- How many kilos of fresh strawberries go into one kilo of finished product? At FruitBuys partner facilities: 10–12 kg of clean fruit on the tray and 12.5–16 kg bought at the gate, by season. A ratio far below that means a different product, or one that cannot be delivered at the quoted price.
- Is it freeze-dried under vacuum, or dried with heat? Ask for the cycle: freezing at −30 to −40 °C, drying under vacuum at 10–50 Pa, 18–24 hours for cuts.
- What are the contract moisture and water-activity limits, and who measures them? Moisture ≤5.0% and aw ≤0.30, measured on every lot.
- Is the COA per lot, from an independent laboratory? A generic annual certificate is not a lot COA.
- Which tests are per lot, and which are periodic? At FruitBuys: moisture, aw, TPC, yeasts and moulds, E. coli and Salmonella on every FCL lot; lead, arsenic and aflatoxin on a surveillance schedule.
- Where will my order be processed, and can that change? You want one named facility, change-control in writing and audit access.
- Which certificates does that facility hold? For FruitBuys strawberry programmes: HACCP, ISO 22000, BRC (qualified processing facility) and US FDA Facility Registration, with Halal certification available on request.
- Where does the pre-shipment sample come from? From the packed commercial lot, never from a batch made specially for the sample.
- How are the bags packed? Foil laminate, soft vacuum, food-grade silica gel; bag size matched to your production batch.
- What happens if the container does not match? Claim windows, retained sample and how a claim is settled, written into the contract.
A supplier who answers all ten in writing is a supplier who has thought about your container before you have.
Want answers to all ten for your volume? Email [email protected] or WhatsApp +84 919 739 589 with your RFQ. COMPLETE RFQ →
Sample request: what you receive and when
FruitBuys prepares samples in 3–5 working days in the cut you specified, from current production, packed in sealed foil pouches with desiccant, and sends them by courier. Each sample comes with its specification and the season it came from.
Use the sample for what it is: proof that the supplier can make the product. Run it in your own recipe, at your own dose, in your own process: a cereal coating line, a chocolate refiner, a drink mixer. A sample that looks perfect on a white plate can break in a ribbon mixer or bleed colour into a white coating, and the only place to learn that is your plant.
Two habits make the sample useful later:
- Match the season. Da Lat strawberries from December to April run at about 8–10 °Brix, firm and deep red; from May to November at about 6–8 °Brix, brighter and more tart. Approve a sample from the season you will buy in; a March sample is the wrong reference for an August container.
- Photograph and log it. Colour against a white card, cut size, breakage in the pouch, snap test, taste notes. That log becomes the written description of your golden sample.
Approving a golden sample
The golden sample is the reference every container is measured against. Once your R&D and QA teams approve a sample in writing, it becomes the golden sample, and FruitBuys keeps a matching sealed reference. Write it into the contract with four measurable lines:
| Attribute | How to write it |
|---|---|
| Colour | A range, such as “bright red to deep red, matched to the golden sample”, not a single shade |
| Cut size | Nominal size ±1–2 mm, such as slices 5–8 mm |
| Breakage | Typically ≤5–8% by weight at loading for whole and sliced, fixed on the approved sample |
| Moisture and aw | ≤5.0% and ≤0.30 |
If your QA team measures colour with a colorimeter, record the golden sample’s reading and set a tolerance in the specification; most brands find a visual range against the sample enough for an inclusion.
Sample to bulk: the four controls that make the container match
The first sample proves the supplier can make the product. These four controls prove this container is that product.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| 1. Pre-shipment sample from the packed lot | 100–200 g drawn after your bags are sealed and cartoned, split into two sealed foil pouches: one for sensory checks, one lot-coded for your lab |
| 2. Dry-store hold until approval | The packed cartons wait in a dry store at the facility; the container is called in, stuffed and sealed only after your written approval |
| 3. Retained sample from every lot | Sealed, lot-coded and kept for the full shelf life, up to 24 months |
| 4. One locked facility | Your programme runs at one qualified partner facility; any change needs written notice and a new sample approval |
Why the pre-shipment sample matters more than the first sample. It carries the same fruit, the same drying run and the same packing as the cartons behind it, so approving it means approving the container. While your team checks it, typically about a week from dispatch to sign-off, nothing waits in a hot terminal; if your QA finds a gap, it is fixed in the warehouse, not at the port.
Why the retained sample protects your cargo. If a container arrives with soft fruit and water activity well above 0.30, the retained sample from the same lot, still at or below 0.30, shows the damage happened on the voyage: condensation, a leaking container or heat. That is the evidence your marine insurer and the carrier need to settle a cargo claim, and it puts you and FruitBuys on the same side of the table.
Why the facility lock matters. Freeze-dried strawberries are shaped by small process details: how long fruit waits between hulling and freezing, how the cycle is run, how dry the packing room is. Two facilities with the same certificates can produce a different red and different breakage. Locking the facility locks those details.
Pre-shipment checks, COA and arrival inspection
Every FCL lot ships with a COA from an independent ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory:
| Parameter | Limit |
|---|---|
| Moisture | ≤5.0% |
| Water activity | ≤0.30 |
| Total plate count | ≤10⁴ CFU/g |
| Yeasts and moulds | ≤10² CFU/g |
| E. coli | <10 CFU/g |
| Salmonella | Not detected in 25 g |
Foreign matter is controlled by visual inspection and metal detection with 1.5 mm ferrous and 2.0 mm non-ferrous test pieces. For market-specific panels, such as pesticide multi-residue for the EU or hepatitis A and norovirus for a retail questionnaire, FruitBuys arranges independent testing at an accredited laboratory of your choice, such as Eurofins or SGS in Vietnam, before the container is sealed. The export file carries the commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, certificate of origin (EUR.1 for the EU and UK) and a phytosanitary certificate with every shipment. What each limit means for your product is in freeze-dried strawberry moisture and water activity.
When the container lands, run one arrival routine on sealed bags within 48–72 hours of devanning, against the golden sample:
- Photograph the container interior as found and the seal number.
- Open two or three bags from different rows.
- Snap-test within 60 seconds of cutting a bag: pieces break cleanly, no leathery pieces.
- Check colour, cut size and breakage against the golden sample; read water activity if there is any doubt.
- Move stock into a dry store before production opens any bag.
Freeze-dried strawberries start drawing moisture the moment a bag is cut, so a piece left on a bench in a humid warehouse can feel leathery within minutes even from a perfect lot. A reading taken early on sealed bags is a clean answer about what arrived, well inside the 14-day claim window.
Your contract checklist
Copy these lines into your purchase contract or supplier agreement:
- Specification with cut size ±1–2 mm, moisture ≤5.0%, aw ≤0.30, micro limits and breakage limit by format.
- Golden sample approved in writing, colour written as a range against it, sample season stated.
- Lot COA from an independent ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory with every FCL lot.
- Pre-shipment sample of 100–200 g from the packed lot, approved in writing before loading; cartons held in a dry store until then.
- Retained sample from every container lot, kept for the full shelf life.
- One named processing facility, change only with written notice and a new sample approval; audit access.
- Export documents: invoice, packing list, B/L, EUR.1 where applicable, phytosanitary certificate, COA.
- Claim windows: 14 days from devanning for packaging, appearance, breakage and aw; 30 days for lab results.
Which first order fits your approval process?
| Your situation | The route that fits |
|---|---|
| Product still in R&D | Trial order from one pallet (about 24 cartons), by LCL, with its own PSS and arrival check |
| Spot purchase | One container with a PSS from the packed lot; colour range set on that sample |
| Same strawberry all year | Annual programme: season plan, one locked facility, PSS and retained sample on every container |
| Retail pouches under your brand | Golden sample on the packed pouch; see private label freeze-dried strawberries |
A trial lot ships with the release QC log (moisture, water activity and sensory per batch) and the latest surveillance report. Any independent test your QA policy needs on a trial lot is credited in full against your first container, so the approval process is proven before the volume is.
Send your RFQ
Send the ten fields above, or as many as you have. FruitBuys returns a quote within 24–48 hours of a complete RFQ, written answers to the ten supplier questions, a sample schedule and the facility your programme will run at, so your QA team can approve the system before the first container. Product details are on the freeze-dried strawberries page; the full buying guide is freeze-dried strawberries in bulk.
COMPLETE RFQ →
Email [email protected] · WhatsApp Export +84 919 739 589
FAQ
What information do I need to request a quote?
Cut, application, annual volume by quarter, first order size, packing, destination and Incoterm, target market and label, quality limits, documents and tests, and timing and payment. With all ten, FruitBuys quotes within 24–48 hours.
How fast can I get samples?
FruitBuys prepares samples in 3–5 working days from current production, then sends them by courier.
What is a golden sample?
The sample your R&D and QA teams approve in writing. It becomes the reference for colour, cut size, breakage, moisture and water activity on every container, and FruitBuys keeps a matching sealed reference.
How do you make sure bulk matches the sample?
With a pre-shipment sample from the packed lot approved before loading, cartons held in a dry store until approval, a retained sample from every lot kept for the full shelf life, and one locked processing facility.
How long is the retained sample kept?
For the full shelf life of each container lot, up to 24 months.
