On arrival
Documenting a citrus claim so it can be used
Get the label in the frame. Most files fail on identification rather than on damage: a photograph of soft fruit on a warehouse floor could be anyone's, from any week. The package marking carries the packer, the origin, the class and the size, and the lot code takes a grower back to a plot and a picking day.
The figures
| What the package marking carries | Packer and dispatcher, nature of the produce, origin, and commercial specifications including class and size |
|---|---|
| What the lot code carries | The link back to a batch. Food law requires one step back and one step forward, not a particular code format |
| Strongest form of record at handover | A check made jointly by carrier and consignee (CMR, article 30.2) |
| Our own lot prefixes | Not confirmed by the grower |
What it changes on an order
You are reporting to a head office
A file assembled for somebody who was not on the dock has to stand without narration. Work outward from the loaded trailer to the cut fruit and it reads in order to a stranger.
You expect the grower to investigate
Without a lot code there is nothing to investigate. A packhouse cannot search its records for fruit that looks like the photograph, and it will ask you for the code before it does anything else.
You deal with several suppliers a week
Files get mixed up. Photographing the marking first, before the damage, makes every later image self-identifying, and it costs one extra frame per pallet.
What this note does not settle
- This is about making a record usable. It is not advice on whether to claim, on who is responsible, or on what evidence would persuade anyone.
- A record is not a finding. Deciding where damage began can need a laboratory, a survey or a joint inspection, and none of those is a photograph.
- We have no claims procedure, no agreed format for a report and no response time. What we would do with a file today is work through it with you.
Source: Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR), Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, article 18
A photograph of oranges is not a photograph of your oranges
Most claim files fail on identification rather than on the damage. Somebody photographs a tray of soft fruit against a warehouse floor, sends it, and the grower looks at it and sees fruit. It could be anyone's, from any week. There is nothing in the frame that connects it to a consignment, so there is nothing to investigate.
The fix costs nothing. Get the package marking in the same shot as the damage, because the marking carries the packer, the origin, the class and the size, and the lot code is what takes the grower back to a plot and a picking day. One image with a label in it does more than a folder without.
Build it in the order someone else will read it
Work outward from the load. The stack as it stood in the trailer, then the pallet, then the box with its label, then the fruit, then a cut fruit if the problem is inside. Anyone reading that sequence can place the damage in the shipment without having been there, which is the entire purpose of the exercise.
Add how many boxes you opened and how many were affected, not a percentage you estimated by eye. Add the date and time. Then send it to both the carrier and the seller, and send it before you decide who you think is responsible, because working out where it happened is what the file is for. We have no claims procedure of our own to point you at yet, and nothing here is advice on what you are entitled to recover.
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.