Freeze-Dried Papaya Powder
Freeze-dried papaya powder is ripe red-flesh papaya (Carica papaya), peeled, deseeded and freeze-dried, then milled to 60–80 mesh with no carrier, sugar or colour added. About 8–9 kg of papaya flesh go into each kilogram, so 10 g of powder carries the fruit of roughly 75–90 g of fresh papaya and its natural orange-red colour, and your ingredient line reads one word, papaya. FruitBuys supplies it from the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, milled at a qualified partner facility to the same release limits as our freeze-dried papaya dice and slices.
The powder packs 15–20 kg into the carton that holds 8–10 kg of dice, so one 20 ft container carries 8.25–11 t. That is the fruit of roughly 65–100 t of fresh papaya flesh, and it travels in a standard dry container. It belongs to our freeze-dried fruit powder range.
Product specification
| Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|
| Ingredient | 100% ripe red-flesh papaya (Carica papaya), milled from freeze-dried papaya |
| Guaranteed specifications | Moisture ≤5.0% and Aw ≤0.30 on every lot COA; no maltodextrin carrier, no added colour, no added sugar |
| Grade | Premium (fine) grade: ripe flesh only, peeled and deseeded before drying; fruit sorted at 11–13 °Brix, green and overripe fruit rejected at intake |
| Versions | Standard: papaya only. Free-flowing: standard + up to 1% silicon dioxide (E551) for auger, sachet and stick-pack lines |
| Particle size | 60–80 mesh (≥95% through); 80–100 mesh for drink mixes |
| Bulk density | Typical 0.40–0.45 g/cm³ |
| Colour | Natural orange to orange-red, from beta-carotene and lycopene |
| Taste / odour | Sweet, mellow ripe papaya; no cooked or fermented note |
| In liquid | Disperses into a cloudy, fibre-rich drink; does not dissolve clear |
| Moisture | ≤4.0% at release; ≤5.0% contract limit |
| Water activity | ≤0.25 at release; ≤0.30 contract limit |
| Total plate count | ≤10⁴ CFU/g; low-micro grade (TPC <1,000 CFU/g) on request for dairy, ice cream and ready-to-eat lines |
| Yeasts and moulds | ≤10² CFU/g |
| E. coli / Salmonella | <10 CFU/g / not detected in 25 g |
| Fruit equivalence | 10 g powder ≈ 75–90 g fresh papaya flesh |
| Shelf life | 18–24 months in the original sealed bulk foil bag with desiccant, stored cool at ≤18 °C, RH ≤50%; 12 months for the sealed bulk bag at ≤25 °C, RH ≤60%, and once repacked into retail pouches. |
| HS code | 1106.30 |
Ripe flesh, so sell it for flavour and colour. Papain, the enzyme behind meat tenderisers and digestive-enzyme products, sits mainly in the latex of green papaya. This powder is made from ripe flesh and has little papain activity, so it belongs in your formula for taste, colour and fibre, and your label should present it that way: as papaya, not as an enzyme or a digestive aid. The detail is in does papaya powder contain papain.
Freeze-dried or spray-dried papaya powder: which fits your formula
Many papaya powders on the market are spray-dried from juice or purée, and they need a carrier, commonly 30–50% maltodextrin, to dry at all. The inlet air of a spray dryer runs at 160–200 °C, which drives off much of papaya’s aroma and dulls its colour. Freeze-dried powder starts from dried fruit, so the bag holds only papaya.
| Freeze-dried papaya powder (this product) | Spray-dried papaya powder | |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredient line | Papaya | Papaya juice or purée, maltodextrin (commonly 30–50%) |
| Made from | Ripe flesh, freeze-dried, then milled | Juice or purée, atomised into hot air |
| Colour and aroma | Natural orange-red, full papaya aroma | Paler, weaker aroma |
| Typical dose for the same colour and flavour | 3–4% | 8–10%, often with added flavouring |
| In water or milk | Disperses; cloudy, with fruit body | Dissolves; clear to slightly cloudy |
| Fibre | Fruit fibre kept | Diluted by the carrier |
| Typical use | Smoothies, bowls, yogurt, ice cream, baby food, bakery, cereal coatings | Instant drink sachets |
The dose gap decides the cost. At 3–4% against 8–10%, freeze-dried powder costs less per kilogram of finished product whenever its price per kg is below about 2 to 3.3 times the spray-dried price, depending on where your recipe lands. Freeze-dried powder keeps the fruit fibre, so it gives a drink a cloudy, real-fruit body: it fits smoothies, milk drinks, bowls and dairy, where that body is the point, and it gives you more flavour per gram and a shorter label. The quickest way to see the gap is a side-by-side bench test in your own base, and we send a sample for exactly that.
Nutrition (per 100 g)
| Nutrient | Amount | % DV* |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 350 kcal | |
| Total fat | 2 g | 3% |
| Saturated fat | 0.5 g | 3% |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg | 0% |
| Sodium | 65 mg | 3% |
| Potassium | 1,460 mg | 31% |
| Total carbohydrate | 87 g | 32% |
| Dietary fibre | 14 g | 50% |
| Total sugars | 63 g (0 g added) | |
| Protein | 4 g | 8% |
Typical values for 100% freeze-dried papaya; natural variation by origin, season and ripeness applies. Lot nutrition panel available for label artwork.
14 g fibre and 1,460 mg potassium per 100 g, with no added sugar. On an EU panel (energy 1,460 kJ / 350 kcal; carbohydrate 73 g; salt 0.16 g) the powder reaches the levels for “high fibre”, “high potassium”, “low fat” and “low sodium”, plus “no added sugars”. Freeze-drying keeps far more of papaya’s naturally occurring vitamin C than heat drying, at a typical 300–450 mg per 100 g. For an on-pack vitamin figure we sample your commercial lot and arrange the panel in FDA or EU format. The powder is vegan and naturally gluten-free, with none of the top-9 or EU-14 allergens as ingredients.
Applications and starting doses
| Application | Starting point for your trial | What the powder does there |
|---|---|---|
| Smoothies, drink mixes, smoothie bowls | 3–6% | Fresh papaya colour and body with no thawing and no frozen stock |
| Baby purées and yogurts | 5–10% | Colour and natural sweetness without thickening the purée |
| Puffs, infant cereals, teething biscuits | 10–20% of the dry starch mix | Fruit flavour and colour blended into the dry mix before extrusion or baking |
| Ice cream and yogurt | 3–6% of the mix | Orange colour and flavour with no added colouring |
| Bakery and fillings | 3–5% of flour weight | Bake at ≤180 °C to keep the fruit sugars from browning |
| Cereal coatings, snack seasonings | 2–4% | Tropical colour in the coating slurry or dry dust |
| Gummies and bars | Add with the dry phase | Run a shelf-life pilot: the fruit sugars draw moisture |
These are starting formulations; confirm dose, texture and colour in your own recipe with our sample before you order in bulk. Dosing by application and the full powder spec are in how much papaya powder you should use. Pre-blend the powder with sugar, protein or starch before liquids go in, and it disperses without lumps.
Baby food: the lead question. Papaya grows on the tree, with the flesh well above the soil. FDA’s guidance for processed foods for children under two sets an action level of 10 ppb lead for fruit-based foods, and 20 ppb only for single-ingredient root vegetables and dry infant cereals. Two numbers belong in your QA file. Freeze-drying concentrates whatever the fruit carries about eight times; a 5–10% dose in a purée then dilutes the powder 10 to 20 times. For baby-food lines we arrange ICP-MS testing for lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury on each lot on request, before the container is sealed, which gives you lot data for your supplier approval and for the monthly testing California requires of baby food sold there.
Packaging and handling
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Bulk | 5 kg sealed aluminium-foil PE bags (1 kg on request), soft vacuum, food-grade silica gel sachet, no nitrogen, in 5-ply cartons |
| Carton | 58 × 28 × 34 cm, 15–20 kg net (3–4 bags), confirmed by trial pack |
| Retail (OEM) | 30 g / 50 g / 100 g / 500 g aluminium-foil zip pouches, or custom sizes |
| Packing room | Milled and packed in a dehumidified room at ≤40% RH |
| Shelf life | 18–24 months in the original sealed bulk foil bag with desiccant, stored cool at ≤18 °C, RH ≤50%; 12 months for the sealed bulk bag at ≤25 °C, RH ≤60%, and once repacked into retail pouches. |
Papaya powder is about 63% natural sugar on a dry basis, and it is one of the faster fruit powders to cake once humid air reaches it. That is why we size every bulk bag to one production batch: open one bag in a room below 40% RH, use all of it in the shift, and the rest stay free-flowing in their foil. Let cold cartons reach room temperature before opening so no condensation forms, keep cartons on pallets off the floor, and reseal a reopened bag at once with a fresh desiccant sachet. Soft clusters in the standard grade come from the fruit sugar and break with a stir or a sieve. For an auger or stick-pack line that runs for hours, choose the free-flowing version.
Commercial terms and container planning
| Term | Detail |
|---|---|
| Production capacity | Milled to order from FruitBuys freeze-dried papaya capacity of 100 t/year |
| 20 ft, floor-loaded | About 550 cartons: 8.25–11 t powder |
| 40 ft HC, floor-loaded | About 1,100 cartons; powder planned at 20–21 t net within container and road weight limits |
| Palletised | 1,200 × 1,000 mm pallets, 30–36 cartons each; 20–21 pallets per 40 ft HC (9–15 t) |
| Container type | Standard dry container; no reefer |
| Trial orders | 50–100 kg by air or LCL; bulk from 300–500 kg |
| Mixed loads | A container shared with other FruitBuys freeze-dried lines costs about 15–20% less in logistics per kg than LCL |
| Production lead time | 20–30 days per 20 ft after deposit |
| Samples | Dispatched within 24–48 hours in two sealed foil pouches |
| OEM / ODM / private label | MOQ 500 kg; digital-print pouches from 3,000–5,000 per SKU, rotogravure from 500 kg per SKU |
| Payment | T/T 40% deposit, 60% before shipment or against copy B/L; L/C at sight |
| Incoterms | FOB Cat Lai, CIF (sea and air) |
| Port of loading | Cat Lai Port or Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Ho Chi Minh City |
Powder or dice: run the numbers for your plant. Per kilogram, powder ships for roughly half the sea freight of dice, because 15–20 kg fit where 8–10 kg of dice would. Import duty runs the other way: powder pays a 9.6% US MFN rate against 1.8% for papaya pieces, and 8.3% against 2.0% under EU MFN rates, although both enter the EU at 0% with Form EUR.1. A plant with a cold mill and a dry room can buy freeze-dried papaya dice and mill in-house; a plant without them saves the milling step and the caking risk by buying powder. Put freight, duty and your milling cost on one line before you decide. Private-label packing options are on our OEM and private label page.
Quality and documents
- Every container lot: COA from an independent ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory for moisture, water activity, total plate count, yeasts and moulds, E. coli and Salmonella, plus sensory checks for colour, odour and foreign matter.
- Residues: multi-residue pesticides to your market’s MRLs, tested before stuffing.
- Available for each lot on request, before the container is sealed: ICP-MS heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury); PCR screening for GM papaya events; Listeria and Enterobacteriaceae for ready-to-eat use; sulphite; gluten; a nutrition panel in FDA or EU format. FruitBuys arranges these at an accredited laboratory of your choice, such as Eurofins or SGS in Vietnam.
- Variety: Red Lady-type papaya, a conventionally bred F1 hybrid, not a GM variety.
- Trial orders: an in-house QC log per batch for moisture, water activity and sensory, with third-party testing on request.
- Pre-shipment sample: 100–200 g from the packed lot in two sealed foil pouches with desiccant, one for your trial and one kept sealed for your lab.
- Retained sample: kept from every container lot for its full shelf life, up to 24 months.
- Facility control: FruitBuys locks one qualified partner facility per contract. Any change needs prior written notice and re-approval of the pre-shipment sample, and you keep audit access.
- Facility certifications: HACCP, ISO 22000, US FDA Facility Registration and BRC (qualified processing facility). Halal certification available on request.
- Shipment documents: commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, COA, Certificate of Origin Form EUR.1 for the EU and UK or Form CEPA for the UAE, and a phytosanitary certificate with every shipment as part of FruitBuys’ standard export dossier.
Claims on packaging, appearance, caking or water activity are accepted within 14 days of unloading, and lab results within 30 days.
Import and labeling
The standard powder is exported under 1106.30, flour, meal and powder of Chapter 8 fruit. FruitBuys writes the invoice, spec and COA with one description, “freeze-dried papaya (Carica papaya) powder, 60–80 mesh, no added ingredients, moisture ≤5%”, and prepares them with your customs broker so the entry line and the documents match on the first filing.
For the EU, Form EUR.1 under EVFTA brings the powder (CN 1106 30 90) in at 0% duty, against the 8.3% MFN rate; your broker can check the current measure in the EU TARIC database. In the US Harmonized Tariff Schedule, the MFN rate for the powder (1106.30.40) is 9.6%; your customs broker confirms the total duty on the entry. Form EUR.1 also covers the UK, and a Form CEPA goes with every shipment to the UAE. The final rate applies to the code declared at entry. For the free-flowing version, the classification is confirmed with your broker before the first shipment, because the added silicon dioxide can move it out of 1106.30.
Name the ingredient “papaya powder” or “freeze-dried papaya powder” on your pack, and list silicon dioxide if you use the free-flowing version. Keep the claims to food claims such as fibre, potassium and no added sugar; enzyme and digestion claims do not fit a ripe-fruit powder.
Verify the sample in five steps
- Look at the colour. Even orange to orange-red through the pouch, with no brown patches or dark specks.
- Pour it. The powder should run from the pouch; soft clusters break between two fingers, with no hard lumps.
- Read the water activity within a minute. Seal powder in the meter cup within 60 seconds of opening; at or below 0.30 the lot was dried and sealed right. Keep the second pouch sealed for your own lab.
- Make one drink. Stir 10 g into 250 ml of cold milk or water: it should disperse into an orange drink with ripe papaya aroma and settle only slowly.
- Run your recipe. Use your target dose and check flavour and colour against your brief. Approve the pre-shipment sample in writing; it becomes the quality reference for your container.
FAQ
Is this papaya powder 100% papaya?
Yes, in the standard version: no maltodextrin, carrier, sugar or flow agent. The free-flowing version adds up to 1% silicon dioxide, declared on your label.
Is papaya flour the same as papaya powder?
Not always. Ripe papaya powder like this one is used for flavour and colour; “green papaya flour” is milled from unripe fruit and used more like a starch. Ask any supplier which one the quote means.
Does papaya powder contain papain?
Very little. Papain is concentrated in the latex of green papaya, and this powder is made from ripe flesh. Use it for papaya flavour, colour and fibre, and keep enzyme or digestion claims off the label.
What is the difference between freeze-dried and spray-dried papaya powder?
Spray-dried powder usually carries 30–50% maltodextrin and loses aroma and colour in hot air, so recipes often need 8–10% of it. Freeze-dried powder is 100% papaya and typically works at 3–4%.
How much powder equals fresh papaya?
About 10 g of powder carries the fruit of 75–90 g of fresh papaya flesh.
How long does papaya powder last?
18–24 months in the original sealed bulk foil bag with desiccant, stored cool at ≤18 °C, RH ≤50%; 12 months for the sealed bulk bag at ≤25 °C, RH ≤60%, and once repacked into retail pouches.
What is the HS code for papaya powder?
1106.30 for the standard 100% powder. Dried papaya pieces are classified under 0813.40.
Is your papaya powder organic?
No. It is conventional Mekong Delta papaya, and a multi-residue panel to your market’s MRLs is tested before stuffing.
What is the minimum order?
Trial orders from 50–100 kg; bulk from 300–500 kg; 500 kg for OEM, ODM and private label.
Request a sample and quote
Origin, season and how FruitBuys controls the papaya from grower to container are in the freeze-dried papaya supplier guide. Send these 10 details and we return a specification, sample plan and terms in one reply:
- Destination country and port
- Application: drink or smoothie mix, baby food, ice cream or yogurt, bakery, cereal coating, gummies or bars
- Target dose and the base it goes into
- Version (standard or free-flowing) and mesh
- Microbiology grade: standard or low-micro
- Lot tests your market or customer needs (heavy metals, GM screening, nutrition panel)
- First-order volume: trial, LCL, 20 ft or 40 ft HC, floor-loaded or palletised
- Annual volume and call-off rhythm
- Packaging: bulk bag size, or retail pouch size and private-label artwork status
- Preferred Incoterm, payment term and target delivery date
