For industrial buyers, a fruit concentrate specification is more than a marketing sheet.
It is the technical language that connects supplier, laboratory, procurement department and production line.
As international supply chains become more complex, documentation around fruit identity and authenticity is increasingly important.
Fruit juice has a recognised technical framework
Codex maintains the General Standard for Fruit Juices and Nectars, CXS 247-2005. The publication currently includes amendments through 2024 and was republished in an updated format in 2025.
At industry level, AIJN maintains a Code of Practice and fruit-specific Reference Guidelines intended to help evaluate the quality, identity and authenticity of juices. AIJN currently lists Reference Guidelines covering 27 fruit and vegetable categories.
This technical background is important because fruit ingredients cannot always be evaluated using one universal set of numbers.
Apple, grape, carrot, pomegranate and citrus products may require different indicators.
Brix alone cannot prove product quality
Brix is commercially important because it describes soluble-solids concentration.
But a concentrate meeting its target Brix can still differ in acidity, colour, turbidity, microbiological condition or authenticity profile.
For this reason, a professional buyer should avoid approving a shipment from only one parameter.
Instead, the batch should be compared against an agreed specification.
TDS and COA serve different purposes
This is one of the most important concepts in B2B ingredient sourcing.
The Technical Data Sheet describes the commercial product and the expected or approved technical profile.
The Certificate of Analysis provides analytical information for a particular production batch.
A COA therefore becomes much more meaningful when the buyer can compare it against a previously approved TDS or customer specification.
Without an agreed reference, a list of laboratory values has limited commercial value.
Authenticity assessment can be fruit-specific
AIJN explains that its Reference Guidelines consolidate characteristic values and ranges that can support evaluation of identity, quality and authenticity.
This means serious juice evaluation may extend beyond basic measurements such as pH and Brix.
Depending on the fruit and destination market, laboratory assessment may involve additional chemical markers, contaminants or authenticity indicators.
The exact test plan should reflect the product rather than being copied from another fruit.
Documentation also helps manage natural variation
Agricultural ingredients naturally vary.
Variety, climate, harvest conditions and processing can all influence analytical values.
Good supplier documentation does not pretend this variation does not exist.
Instead, it defines acceptable ranges and confirms whether the actual batch falls within the agreed specification.
That is one reason why batch-specific COA review is so valuable.
A better approach to supplier approval
Procurement teams should ask for documentation in a logical sequence.
First, review the product specification.
Then review a representative or recent COA.
If necessary, evaluate a sample.
After commercial production, check the actual batch-specific documentation before shipment or release.
This approach creates a much stronger quality system than choosing a supplier solely from price and a generic specification sheet.
Juicerfo Insight
Reliable fruit ingredient sourcing is built on evidence.
TDS defines expectations. COA documents the batch. Authenticity assessment confirms that the ingredient behaves like the fruit product it claims to be.
Together, these tools create confidence for long-term industrial supply.