Trade term
The cold chain on a citrus load, and who sets the number
No regulation fixes a transport temperature for oranges the way one does for meat or dairy. The figure on the consignment note is whatever the two parties wrote there, which makes it a commercial term rather than a legal one, and a load that arrived warm is judged against that agreement alone.
The figures
| Who sets the temperature | The parties to the contract |
|---|---|
| Where it is recorded | The consignment note and the order |
| What governs a dispute | The carriage contract, not a food safety rule |
What it changes on an order
You are drafting an order
Write the temperature down. Without a figure on the paperwork there is nothing to have arrived outside of.
A load arrives warm
The first question is what was agreed and the second is what the recorder shows. Neither answers itself afterwards.
You buy from several origins
Do not assume a house standard travels. What one supplier treats as obvious is a blank on another's paperwork.
What this note does not settle
- We have not agreed a transport temperature as a standing term, and nothing here should be read as one.
- Chilling injury sets a practical floor that is separate from any contract figure; too cold is its own damage.
No law sets the temperature of your oranges
Buyers assume that a legal carriage temperature exists for fresh produce in Europe. None does. The international agreement that prescribes insulated equipment and carriage temperatures for perishable foodstuffs lists the commodities it governs, and fresh fruit and vegetables fall outside that list. Whatever temperature your oranges travel at is the temperature written into your contract, held by a carrier somebody else selected, and evidenced by a recorder that somebody agreed to fit.
This is a gap to be filled by the order rather than a scandal. Name the set point. Name the tolerance around it. Say who supplies the data logger, where in the load it sits and who receives the file when the doors open. A chain that nobody specified is a chain that nobody owns, and the argument about it begins after the fruit is standing on your floor.
Colder is not safer with citrus
Citrus is subtropical and it takes injury from cold well above freezing. Held too low for too long, the rind pits, browns and collapses in patches, and the damage surfaces after the fruit comes out of the cold rather than while it is in there. The tolerated range differs between oranges and mandarins, which makes one set point for a mixed load a compromise that has to be chosen on purpose.
Ask which product the set point was chosen for. When a pallet of clementines rides with oranges, one of the two is being held outside its own optimum, and the one that suffers is the one with the thinner rind. Our transport temperature field is empty on all four datasheets and stays empty until the grower confirms an answer.
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.