Aseptic Fruit Concentrate and Purée: 200 L Drums, Storage and Shipping

What does “aseptic” mean for a concentrate?

In aseptic processing, the product and the package are made commercially sterile separately and then brought together in a sterile environment. The concentrate or purée is heat-treated, cooled, and filled through a sterile filler into a pre-sterilised bag, which is sealed before it leaves the sterile zone. A validated aseptic process can achieve stability without preservatives, provided the bag and seal remain intact and the specified storage conditions are met.

Two points follow for the buyer:

• Aseptic is a packaging state, not a storage temperature. A sterile bag protects against spoilage, but heat still drives chemical changes — colour darkening, cooked notes, aroma loss. Many tropical concentrates and purées are therefore stored cool even though they are aseptically packed.
• Once opened, the product is no longer aseptic. Treat an opened bag as a perishable ingredient: keep it chilled and use it within the time your food-safety plan allows.

Frozen concentrate is a different route: the product is packed and kept frozen, and its stability comes from temperature rather than from aseptic filling. For passion fruit concentrate we list aseptic bag-in-drum as the common format, with frozen formats available on request.

Why a 200-litre bag-in-drum?

The standard industrial pack is a multilayer aseptic bag with a fitted spout, placed inside a 200-litre open-top steel drum. The drum protects the bag; the bag keeps the product sterile.

• Product-to-pack ratio. One drum holds about 200 litres; its net weight depends on the product’s density, which rises with Brix, so the specification states the net weight per drum.
• Handling. Drums are commonly arranged four to a pallet; confirm pallet dimensions, load limits and compatibility with your handling equipment.
• Emptying. The spout connects to a dispensing or pumping system, so the product can be transferred with little exposure to air.
• Smaller users. Bag-in-box packs are available by programme for users who cannot empty a drum within a safe time after opening.

Concentrate or purée: which format fits your product?

Choose juice concentrate when you need a liquid base and the lowest freight per kilogram of fruit solids; choose purée when the product needs the body and pulp of the whole fruit. Purée concentrate sits between the two.

Mango illustrates the difference: our catalog lists mango as purée at one Brix range and as concentrate at a higher one, shown in the table below. Viscosity, not only Brix, decides which one your line can pump and dose.

Ambient, chilled or frozen: what decides the storage regime?

The product specification states it, and three factors drive it:

1. The product. Some concentrates and purées hold colour and flavour well at ambient temperature; delicate tropical products often keep their quality far better chilled.
2. The process. The heat treatment and the packaging determine what the product can tolerate.
3. The shelf-life target. Our catalog shelf lives for concentrates, shown in the table below, depend on processing and packaging and are subject to validation. A longer target usually means cooler storage.

Ask for the storage condition and the shelf-life statement together; one is meaningless without the other.

Does juice concentrate need refrigerated shipping?

Follow the storage regime in the specification rather than a general rule:

• Frozen products ship in a reefer at frozen temperature, with the same cold-chain controls as IQF fruit.
• Chilled products ship in a reefer at the chilled set point stated in the specification.
• Ambient-stable aseptic products can ship in a dry container. On long tropical routes, container interiors get hot, especially in summer; for quality-sensitive products, a reefer at a cool set point protects colour and aroma during the voyage.

Tell us the destination and the season with the enquiry, so the container choice is part of the quotation rather than an afterthought. Where temperature control is required, we arrange reefer shipments with documentation matched to the destination market.

What should you check when drums arrive?

Check every drum before it goes into storage: the drum and bag for damage or swelling, the lot number against the COA, and the storage condition the specification requires.

• Drum condition: dents, damaged lids, signs of leakage.
• Bag condition: swelling, bulging or a fermented smell are signs of spoilage and a reason to quarantine the drum.
• Identification: lot number and production date on each drum, matching the COA.
• Storage: move drums to the storage condition in the specification without delay, and use them first-in, first-out.
• Opening: open under hygienic conditions, sample for Brix, acidity and sensory check against the approved reference, and chill any partly used drum.

What to put in the RFQ

An aseptic concentrate RFQ needs the format, the Brix and acidity targets, the pack, the storage regime and the shipping mode. These points make two offers comparable:

• product and format: juice concentrate, purée or purée concentrate;
• Brix target and tolerance, acidity, viscosity for purées, and colour and aroma reference — see our Brix and acidity guide;
• pack: 200-litre aseptic bag-in-drum, bag-in-box, or frozen;
• storage regime and the shelf-life statement that goes with it;
• shipping: dry container or reefer, with the set point;
• annual volume and delivery rhythm, so drum sizes match your usage after opening;
• COA parameters for every lot, and the documents for the destination — see export documents by product type.