Buying channel
Oranges for a repacker, and whose name is on it
A repacker buys bulk boxes and turns them into what a shopper picks up. From the moment the fruit enters a new package, the identification printed on it belongs to the repacker and ours stays on the box that arrived. Fruit that fails to make the bag is where the margin of that business lives, which is why the size band matters here more than anywhere.
The figures
| What it buys | Bulk boxes of graded fruit |
|---|---|
| What it sells | Consumer units made on its own line |
| Packer identification | Moves to the repacker on the package it makes |
| Traceability | One step back and one step forward, Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 |
| What decides its margin | Recovery rate of incoming fruit into the finished pack |
| Question it asks first | How tight is the size band, and how steady week to week |
What it changes on an order
You are working out what you can pay
The delivered price is only half the sum. Divide it by the share of fruit that reaches the finished pack and you have the real cost, which is why a tighter incoming band can be worth paying for rather than haggling over.
You are the food business that made the pack
Your record has to link the bag leaving your line to the boxes that came in. Ask what lot marking arrives on the incoming packages, and check that it survives the moment the fruit is tipped out.
Your bagging line runs at a rate
Fruit that varies in diameter slows a machine and pushes up the rejects at the same time. Consistency between deliveries is worth as much to you as the specification of any single one.
What this note does not settle
- Our lot identification and field records still need confirmation with the grower. Until they are settled, we cannot describe what marking would reach your incoming goods.
- No recovery rate can be read off our data. It depends on the size band agreed, on the season and on your own line, and it has to come from a trial rather than from a page.
- Whether the packhouse can grade to a tighter band, and what that costs, is a question for the packhouse. Nothing here confirms it is available.
Source: Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, general food law, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429
The name on the bag changes hands
Once a repacker makes the consumer unit, the identification printed on that unit is theirs. Ours stays on the bulk box that arrived and travels no further. The chain still has to join up, because food law asks every operator to know the supplier behind each lot and the customer in front of it, and a bag on a shelf has to lead back through the line that filled it.
Marking on the incoming boxes is therefore a practical matter rather than a formality. Ask what lot reference arrives, where it is printed and whether it survives the moment fruit is tipped into a hopper. A traceability record that breaks at the tipping point gets discovered during a recall, which is the worst hour of the worst week to find out.
Margin lives in the fruit that misses the bag
Recovery decides what a repacker is able to pay. Fruit arriving outside the band, marked or soft never reaches a consumer pack, and its cost is carried by the fruit that does. A delivered price has to be divided by the share that makes it through before it can be compared with anything, which is why paying more for a tighter incoming band is arithmetic rather than generosity.
Consistency between deliveries counts for as much as the specification of any single one. A line set for one size and fed another slows down and rejects more at the same time, so the cheapest fruit is the fruit that behaves the same every week. Say what your line is set for, and ask what the packhouse is able to hold to.
Talk to the grower
Tell us the variety, the sizes and the delivery week you need. You get a delivered price and what we can commit to in writing, from the person who picks the fruit.
The grower handles enquiries. Response times are still to be confirmed.