Who you buy from
Updated
An agricultural supply chain at one end and an industrial packaging one at the other.
Four supply chains
Produce, fresh or frozen, seasonal and variable.
Tea, coffee and botanicals, from importers and specialist suppliers.
Ingredients: sugar, acids, flavors, preservatives, from food ingredient distributors.
Packaging: bottles, closures, labels, cartons, with the largest minimums of the four.
Produce and juice
The most variable input in this estate. Sugar, acid and flavor all move with variety, season, ripeness and growing conditions, which is why the specification is Brix and acid rather than "oranges".
Frozen and aseptic juice are legitimate answers with far better consistency and no seasonality, and they cost you a claim about fresh.
Ask whether bought juice is pasteurized, because that changes your own process and your own 5-log position.
Packaging
Ask the question this property keeps returning to: is this container specified for internal pressure, and at what level.
Then the closure, the liner and the torque guidance, which are three specifications rather than one.
And lead time, because a bottle stockout stops production entirely and a substitute bottle is a new fill weight, a new label size and possibly a new pressure question.
What to ask for
Specifications and certificates of analysis for ingredients.
Brix, acid and pH for any bought juice or base.
Pasteurization status, explicitly.
Allergen information, including shared-line information.
And notice of reformulation, which suppliers give only if asked and which invalidates your own testing when it happens.