Glossary
The language of the fresh trade.
26 terms you'll meet importing fruit and veg.
- Brix
- A measure of the sugar content of fruit juice, read with a refractometer. Used as a minimum spec for melons, grapes, pineapples and citrus.
- BCP
- Border Control Post — a designated facility where SPS checks on imported goods take place.
- BTOM
- Border Target Operating Model — GB's risk-based framework for import controls on animal and plant products.
- CA / MA
- Controlled or modified atmosphere — reducing oxygen and raising CO₂ in a container or pack to slow ripening.
- CDS
- Customs Declaration Service — HMRC's system for import and export declarations.
- CFR / CIF
- Incoterms where the seller pays freight (CFR) and also insurance (CIF) to the destination port.
- Class I / Class II
- Marketing-standard quality classes. Class I is good quality with slight defects allowed; Class II allows more defects and is typical for processing.
- Count
- The number of fruit in a standard box; lower counts mean bigger fruit.
- DDP
- Delivered Duty Paid — the seller bears all costs and risk to the buyer's door, including duty.
- Devanning
- Unloading a container at its destination.
- Dry matter
- Percentage of avocado flesh that is not water; the key maturity measure.
- EORI
- Economic Operator Registration and Identification number, needed to import into the UK.
- Ethylene
- The natural ripening gas. Used deliberately in ripening rooms; kept away from sensitive products such as kiwifruit.
- FCL / LCL
- Full container load / less than container load. Pooling turns several LCL orders into one FCL.
- FOB
- Free on Board — the price of the goods loaded at the origin port, before freight.
- GLOBALG.A.P.
- The most widely used farm assurance standard for fresh produce.
- HMI
- Horticultural Marketing Inspectorate — checks produce against marketing standards.
- IPAFFS
- Import of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System — used to pre-notify SPS imports.
- MRL
- Maximum Residue Level — the legal limit for a pesticide residue on a food.
- Phytosanitary certificate
- An official document from the exporting country confirming that plants or plant products meet the importing country's plant health rules.
- Pulp temperature
- The temperature inside the fruit, measured with a probe — the true test of the cold chain.
- Reefer
- A refrigerated shipping container or trailer.
- Setpoint
- The temperature a reefer is programmed to hold.
- SMETA
- Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit — a widely used social compliance audit.
- Spot vs programme
- Spot buying is one-off at the day's price; a programme is an agreed volume and price over a season.
- UKGT
- UK Global Tariff — the UK's schedule of import duties.