On arrival
Mould in one box, and the rest of the pallet sound
Decay is excluded from the tolerances of every commercial class, so mouldy fruit is not covered by the percentage that allows other defects. The useful question is where the infection started. Green mould enters citrus through a wound, and whether the affected boxes are scattered or clustered is what points at the orchard, the line or the trailer.
The figures
| Status under the marketing standard | Produce affected by rotting or any other deterioration rendering it unfit for consumption is excluded from the tolerance in every class |
|---|---|
| How the fungus gets in | Through a wound in the rind, made at picking, on the packing line or in transit |
| Under the carriage rules | Decay is listed among the special risks a carrier can invoke (CMR, article 17.4.d) |
| Post-harvest treatment on our fruit | Not confirmed by the grower |
What it changes on an order
You break pallets for independent shops
A box that looks sound on the dock and shows decay on a shelf costs you the customer, not the box. Where you split loads for onward sale, the pallet pattern is worth photographing before the stack comes down.
You hold fruit before selling it
Storage extends the time an infection has to express itself. Fruit that arrives clean and stands for a week is a different risk from fruit that moves the same day, and your holding time belongs in the conversation.
You buy without a treatment specification
What was applied after harvest changes how decay behaves in your warehouse. Ask for it in writing per lot. On our fruit that field is still open, and an open field is a reason to ask rather than an answer.
What this note does not settle
- This describes what the standard says about decay and what is known about how it starts. It is not advice on whether a load is rejectable or on what any party owes anyone.
- A pattern on a pallet is an indication, not a finding. Only a laboratory distinguishes some citrus rots from each other, and the distinction can matter.
- We have no confirmed post-harvest treatment, no residue analysis and no certification. Anything we would say about keeping behaviour on our own fruit is unverified today.
Source: Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429, Annex I, Part B, Part 2, Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR)
Rot sits outside the allowance, and that is deliberate
Every commercial class in the standard carries a percentage of fruit that is allowed to fall short. Decay is carved out of it. The reason is practical. A rotting fruit does not stay one fruit: it wets the ones touching it, and by the time a box is opened on a shelf the count has moved. A tolerance that covered decay would be a tolerance that grows on its own.
So when a buyer is told that the mould is inside the tolerance, that is a misreading of how the tolerance is built. The correct question is a different one, and it is about where the infection started.
One box, or a pattern
Green mould gets into citrus through a wound, and the wound is made in the orchard, on the line or in a lorry. A single affected box scattered through a sound pallet reads as fruit that was damaged before packing. A run of boxes down one column of a pallet, or every pallet against one wall of the trailer, reads as something that happened in transit.
Those two findings lead to different conversations with different people, and the photograph that tells them apart is the one of the stack before it comes down. Take it first. Once the pallet is broken and the boxes are on the floor, the pattern that would have told you where to look no longer exists.
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.