On arrival
Two sizes of orange inside the same box
Settle which package you bought first. Uniformity under the EU citrus standard is a rule about the contents of a package, and it works differently for fruit in bulk bins and for small sales packages, where grouping consecutive sizes is allowed. The same mixture is a defect in a trade box and the normal state of a consumer net.
The figures
| The general rule | Contents of each package must be uniform and contain only produce of the same origin, variety, quality and size |
|---|---|
| Bulk bins and sales packages of 5 kg net or less | Uniformity is met by grouping three consecutive sizes of the scale |
| What has to be marked on the package | Packer and dispatcher, nature of the produce, origin, and commercial specifications including class and size |
| Count per box on our fruit | Not confirmed. It follows from the format and the way the fruit is laid |
What it changes on an order
You sell by the piece
A box that weighs correctly and holds the wrong number of oranges breaks a fixed-count listing without breaking a single rule about weight. Say at the order stage that the count is the binding figure.
You pack down into consumer units
Fruit arriving for a net or a tray is going to be regrouped anyway, so the uniformity you need is the one inside your own finished unit. That is a different specification from the one on the incoming box.
You supply a display counter
Loose displays sell on appearance and weight, and a spread of sizes reads as natural rather than wrong. This is the case where tightening the specification costs money and buys nothing.
What this note does not settle
- This describes what uniformity means under the marketing standard. It is not advice on whether a particular package conforms or on what to do if it does not.
- Uniformity and tolerance are two separate rules that get argued as one. A box can be uniform and still sit inside a consignment carrying its allowance of adjacent sizes.
- We have no confirmed count per box and no confirmed packing options. The formats on our packaging page are sector references until the packhouse settles them.
Source: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429, Annex I, Part B, Part 2
The same mixture, legitimate in one package and not in another
Uniformity is a rule about the package, not about the load. Within a box of a single size code, the fruit is meant to match. Small sales packages and bulk bins are handled differently on purpose, because nobody sizes a consumer net to a single code and no bin of loose fruit was ever filled that way.
So a mixture that is a defect in a trade box is the ordinary state of a retail net. Before anyone raises it, settle which of the two you bought. That is a question about the order, and it gets answered in seconds by the format written on it.
Where a mixed box actually hurts
The damage lands on the count rather than on the fruit. A buyer who has promised a customer a fixed number of pieces per box, or who prices by the piece, is sunk by a box that weighs correctly and holds the wrong number of oranges. A buyer selling by weight off a loose display will not notice at all.
That is worth saying out loud when the order is placed, because it is invisible from the packhouse. Tell the grower what the box has to do after it arrives. A packer who knows the fruit is going into a fixed-count listing packs it differently from one who thinks it is going onto a table.
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.