Receiving and storing raw materials: intake checks, residues, retained samples

AgrifoodV · Published 23 October 2026

The receiving gate is the last point at which a plant can still reject a lot of fruit. Once past the gate, pesticide residues, bruised fruit and hours of trucks waiting all go straight into the finished product. Many investors put their budget into the main processing line and leave the receiving area “for later”, until the buyer asks for analysis results for every lot. Following article 4 on raw-material growing areas, article 5 closes stage 2: how fruit from the growing areas is received, checked, held and documented as evidence at the plant gate.

Designing the receiving area: weighbridge, waiting yard, fruit flow

In the chapter “Design Principles” of the Handbook of Food Factory Design (2013), P.J. Wallin notes that in some factories daily truck movements can exceed one hundred, so parking, turning space and the impact on neighbouring residents must be considered from the outset. For a fruit and vegetable plant, the figure to use is the number of truck trips on a peak day of the main season, not the annual average.

Wallin calls the weighbridge “essential”: the truck is weighed before unloading and reweighed after, and the difference is recorded as the amount delivered. The weighbridge is usually sunk so that the platform is flush with the road; where the water table is high, a raised platform with a small ramp avoids digging a pit. The book also places fruit and vegetables among materials that can be delivered in bulk by full loads of 20–50 tonnes, and advises sizing storage 20–30% larger than the largest truck load so that a full delivery can be received.

From the yard to the line, G.D. Saravacos and A.E. Kostaropoulos (Handbook of Food Processing Equipment, 2002) describe a familiar method: produce stored in bulk in the yard is conveyed into the processing area by open water channels and flumes. For floating fruit such as tomatoes and citrus, mechanical elevators lift the fruit to the extractors and may also act as washing equipment. Where fruit must be moved over longer distances or to a higher level, centrifugal pumps with special impellers can pump whole fruit without damage to product quality.

Two hygiene principles from the same book belong in the drawings. First, perishable foods must be moved quickly, and fresh fruit and vegetables must not be bruised. Second, smooth belts are easier to keep hygienic than segmented or perforated belts; screw conveyors are hard to clean in wet applications because the screw does not sweep the whole wall, leaving “dead” spaces where microorganisms can grow.

Storing raw materials: short term and under the right conditions

Wallin lists the factors to consider when designing a raw-material store: the form in which materials are delivered, the effect of ambient conditions on the material, the life and stability of the material, infestation and hygiene, and first-in, first-out inventory control. The size of each store is calculated from consumption, the minimum stock to be held and the shelf life of that material. The book gives four common storage conditions:

Source: Wallin (2013), section 12.4.1. The third column is AgrifoodV’s application to a fruit and vegetable plant.

For fresh fruit, the store is only a buffer. Saravacos and Kostaropoulos distinguish short-term storage, as a preliminary stage in tomato processing, from long-term storage such as holding aseptically filled concentrated juice in tanks. Wallin also mentions “just-in-time” receiving: the plant arranges for suppliers to deliver within an agreed time window to limit on-site stock. For fruit, this means coordinating the harvest schedule of the growing areas with the pace of the line.

When fruit has to be held overnight, box pallets are a common choice. According to Saravacos and Kostaropoulos, compared with bulk or silo storage, box pallets give better control of losses due to spoilage, more processing flexibility, can be stacked, keep fruit less compressed and allow better aeration. In return, they need more floor space, add refrigeration load in a cold store, require more labour and cost more. A Euro-pallet-sized box holds about 200 kg of fruit such as apples or oranges; the fruit layer should usually not exceed 0.6–1.1 m to avoid squeezing and temperature rise; in cold storage, the box walls must be permeable so that air can flow through the fruit.

Intake checks: residues are the biggest risk

The EU legal framework is Regulation (EC) No 396/2005. Article 18 prohibits products from containing residues above the maximum residue levels (MRLs) set; for products or active substances with no specific level, the level applied is 0.01 mg/kg, unless a different default value has been fixed.

Alongside MRLs is the list of increased checks. The consolidated version of 30 June 2026 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1793 lists four Vietnamese products because of pesticide residues:

Under Articles 10 and 11 of the regulation, each consignment listed in Annex II must be accompanied by the results of sampling and analyses performed by the competent authorities of the exporting country and by an official certificate. Vietnamese passion fruit, juice, concentrate and puree are not on the list.

Not being listed does not mean being safe. According to the Vietnam Trade Office in France, citing a report by the French food authority (DGAL) with 2024 data, 15 of 47 samples of Vietnamese passion fruit exceeded MRLs. For processed products, on 28 March 2026 the Korean food safety authority (MFDS) ordered the recall of a 6,970 kg lot of Vietnamese frozen passion fruit, packed on 20 July 2025, for difenoconazole at 0.05 mg/kg, above the default level of 0.01 mg/kg. Market surveillance and border checks are two different layers; the plant has to plan for both.

Wallin considers that most plants need a facility to test raw materials, finished products and chemicals used in manufacturing, possibly with a microbiology section; if results are used to control the process, an at-line analysis point next to the line is also needed. In AgrifoodV’s assessment, residue results are rarely available within the time fresh fruit can wait, so the receiving area needs a quarantine yard for lots awaiting results, or the plant must receive results from the growing area before the truck leaves.

Retained samples: evidence for the day questions are asked

The documents AgrifoodV checked for this article do not set a specific retention period for raw-material samples, so the article gives no figure. But one date is worth remembering: the lot of frozen passion fruit recalled in Korea was packed on 20 July 2025, while the recall order came on 28 March 2026, more than eight months later.

As article 4 noted, Decree 38/2026/ND-CP requires growing areas granted a code to keep records of production and harvesting. In AgrifoodV’s assessment, retained samples linked to the growing-area code, the spray log and the finished-product lot number are the strongest evidence a plant has to show at which stage a fault occurred. That requires space, freezing equipment and a responsible person for the retained-sample store to be planned in the drawings, not a corner of a cabinet in the laboratory.

What companies should do

AgrifoodV’s recommendations:

• Design the receiving area for the number of truck trips on a peak day of the main season: weighbridge, covered waiting yard, water flume or smooth belt to bring fruit in, and a quarantine area for lots awaiting results.
• Accept only lots with growing-area records and spray logs; draw up a list of active substances to test against the MRLs of each importing country, especially substances with no MRL in the EU.
• Size the buffer store by the number of hours fruit must wait, not by feel; if a chilled store is needed, include the refrigeration load of box pallets.
• Retain raw-material samples by lot linked to the growing-area code, retain finished-product samples until the end of shelf life, and plan space, freezing equipment and staff for this in the design.

AgrifoodV supports companies in developing the design brief, designing the receiving area and setting the direction for processing plant design.

References

1. Wallin, P.J. “Design Principles”, chapter 12 in Baker, C.G.J. (ed.), Handbook of Food Factory Design. Springer Science+Business Media New York, 2013 (pp. 304, truck traffic; pp. 308–309, section 12.4.1 “Raw Material Storage” and weighbridge; pp. 316–317, section 12.6.3 “Laboratory and Quality Inspection”). DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4614-7450-0_12.
2. Saravacos, G.D.; Kostaropoulos, A.E. “Mechanical Transport and Storage Equipment”, chapter 3 in Handbook of Food Processing Equipment. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, 2002 (p. 99, hydraulic conveying; pp. 111–112, hygienic considerations for conveying equipment; pp. 112–114, short- and long-term storage and box pallets).
3. Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 of 23 February 2005 on maximum residue levels of pesticides in or on food and feed, Article 18. Original text: CELEX 32005R0396; latest consolidated version CELEX 02005R0396-20260819.
4. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1793 of 22 October 2019 on the temporary increase of official controls and emergency measures governing the entry into the Union of certain goods, consolidated version of 30 June 2026 (Articles 10, 11; Annexes I, II). CELEX 02019R1793-20260630.
5. Vietnam Trade Office in France, citing a DGAL report (February 2026), on VnEconomy, 23 March 2026. vneconomy.vn.
6. MFDS (Korea) sales suspension and recall order of 28 March 2026, reported by Medipharm Health. medipharmhealth.co.kr.
7. Decree 38/2026/ND-CP of 24 January 2026 on growing-area codes and packing-facility codes; summary by the Can Tho City Department of Justice. pbgdpl.cantho.gov.vn.
8. Mavani, N.R. et al. (2022), “Application of Artificial Intelligence in Food Industry—a Guideline”, Food Engineering Reviews 14: 134–175, CC BY licence. DOI: 10.1007/s12393-021-09290-z. Citing Sidehabi, S.W. et al. (2018), Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Review.

Article by AgrifoodV, compiled and interpreted from the sources above (accessed 10–23 October 2026). This content is not a substitute for design advice or legal advice for any specific project. Cover image: HONG SON / Pexels.

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