Passion fruit concentrate 50 Brix: specification for beverage makers

Passion fruit concentrate sold as “50 °Brix” typically lists a tolerance of 50 ±1 °Brix, which binds only when the contract names the method: refractometer at 20 °C, read after thawing. Vietnam’s TCVN 13941:2023 sets 10.0–16.0 % titratable acidity and pH 2.3–3.5, while Vietnamese producer listings run from 9 to 18 %. One kilogram reconstitutes to about 4.17 kg of juice at the EU’s 12.0 °Brix.

What does a 50 °Brix grade actually commit the supplier to?

A 50 °Brix grade commits the supplier to a soluble-solids reading. It says nothing about acidity, pH, pulp or microbiology. A Vietnamese producer’s published listing gives the tolerance as 50 ±1 °Brix. The figure only means something once the method is fixed: IFU No.8 (equivalent to AOAC 932.12), read at 20 °C with the measurement temperature recorded. For frozen product, the sample is read after thawing.

The 20 °C reference also has customs weight. The HS Chapter 20 subheading note reads Brix values at 20 °C, so a COA reading taken at another temperature without correction can drift away from both the contract and the classification.

There are two things a buyer should not assume.

First, 50 °Brix is a commercial grade and not a legal floor. Codex CXS 247-2005, which Vietnam adopts word for word as TCVN 7946:2008, defines a concentrate as having a Brix at least 50 % above the reconstituted level. For passion fruit, whose reconstituted level is 12.0 °Brix, that makes anything from 18.0 °Brix upward a concentrate by definition. CBI reports that the trade runs at about 50–55 °Brix.

Second, TCVN 13941:2023 should not be cited as the source of the 50. The standard covers frozen concentrate, and it names the product Nước chanh leo cô đặc đông lạnh. Its soluble-solids clause for the concentrate form sits in the part of the text that has not been read for this article. The published single-strength floor is ≥13.5 % after thawing. Until the concentrate clause is confirmed from the full, purchased text of the standard, the 50 °Brix figure in your purchase order rests on the supplier’s sheet, and the order should say so.

Also state whether the Brix is acid-corrected. Passion fruit is acidic enough for the correction to move the number. A sheet that does not say which reading it reports leaves you with two possible figures and no way to tell which one you were given. The fruit certificate of analysis guide covers the same trap for other lines.

How much juice does 1 kg of passion fruit concentrate make?

By mass, 1 kg of 50 °Brix concentrate makes about 4.17 kg of juice at 12.0 °Brix, 3.70 kg at 13.5 °Brix and 3.57 kg at 14.0 °Brix. Which line applies depends on the label law you sell under. The arithmetic is 50 divided by the target Brix, because °Brix approximates percent soluble solids by mass.

The industry has more reference points than these four laws. CBI quotes a minimum of 13.5 °Brix when reconstituted. An AIJN industry reference of 12.4 °Brix also circulates, but its current status could not be confirmed for this article. Neither figure is EU law. Pick the figure your own label law uses, write it into the specification, and do not adopt the one on the supplier’s sheet.

The ±1 °Brix tolerance matters commercially. At 12.0 °Brix, a 49 °Brix lot yields 4.08 kg of juice per kg and a 51 °Brix lot yields 4.25 kg. That is a swing of about 4 % inside one specification. Two offers at “50 °Brix” are therefore not the same quantity of fruit solids. Settle quantity on kg of soluble solids by the named method, and you will be paying for what you dilute. The pineapple juice concentrate specification applies the same settlement logic to another tropical concentrate.

Is a 250 kg drum the same as a 200-litre drum?

Very probably, yes. Vietnamese sheets describe the drum by mass (250 kg net), while CBI describes the European trade as 200-litre drums. A US specification sheet gives a density of about 10.34 lb per US gallon for 50 °Brix passion fruit concentrate, roughly 1.24 kg per litre. On that figure, 250 kg fills about 202 litres.

That density comes from a foreign sheet, not a Vietnamese one, so treat the conversion as approximate. The practical consequence is still firm. A dilution quoted “in parts” is a volume ratio, and it reads higher than the mass ratio in the table above for the same product. When you compare offers, put every offer on the same basis, either mass or volume, before you compare anything else.

Which acidity band binds: TCVN 13941:2023 or the producer’s sheet?

TCVN 13941:2023 binds only if your purchase order names it. Vietnam’s standard sets titratable acidity at 10.0–16.0 % for frozen concentrate and pH at 2.3–3.5. Vietnamese producers publish bands that cross both edges of that range, and one producer publishes two different bands for the same product.

The disagreement sits in three places:

• Below 10 %. A lot inside a 9 % producer floor can be under the TCVN floor.
• Above 16 %. The 9–18 listing permits lots over the TCVN ceiling.
• Between pH 3.5 and 4.5. Producer B’s ceiling allows lots that TCVN does not.

Where TCVN 13941:2023 and a Vietnamese producer’s data sheet give different acidity bands, VinFruits Global puts both figures on the specification, so the buyer decides in the contract which one the lot is tested against.

Most European buyers do not know this standard exists. Citing it by number tells the supplier which Vietnamese text you are holding them to. Then fix the method alongside the band:

• titratable acidity by IFU No.3, titrated to pH 8.1 and expressed as citric acid
• pH by IFU No.11 (AOAC 981.12)

Bind both values. If the contract binds pH alone, a lot can pass on a different acid profile.

What does the concentrate COA tell you about the finished drink?

The concentrate COA already predicts whether the reconstituted drink will be in specification, because Brix and titratable acidity dilute by the same factor.

For passion fruit concentrate at 50 °Brix, diluting to the EU and Codex minimum of 12.0 °Brix divides every mass-based value by about 4.17. Under TCVN 13941:2023, the concentrate acidity band of 10.0–16.0 % becomes 2.40–3.84 % titratable acidity in the juice. At the US labelling basis of 14.0 °Brix, the factor is about 3.57 and the same band becomes 2.80–4.48 %.

A lot at the bottom of the TCVN concentrate band, diluted to the EU minimum, therefore gives juice below TCVN’s own single-strength floor of 2.5 %. A lot at a 9 % producer floor gives about 2.16 %. The Brix-to-acid ratio does not change on dilution: at 50 °Brix it runs from 5.0 at 10 % acid to about 3.1 at 16 % acid. This calculation assumes both values are % w/w on the same Brix basis.

In practice, the check needs no sample. Take the acid you want in the finished drink at your reconstitution Brix, multiply it by the dilution factor, and write that figure into the specification as the concentrate’s acid range. A beverage maker formulating close to the legal minimum Brix is the buyer most exposed to a low-acid lot.

How is frozen passion fruit concentrate packed and stored?

Frozen passion fruit concentrate from Vietnam ships in double food-grade PE bags inside steel drums at 250 kg net, in 20 kg cartons, or in 18 kg plastic pails. It is held at −18 °C or colder. TCVN 13941:2023 sets storage at not warmer than −18 °C, and a producer listing states a shelf life of a minimum of 24 months under that condition.

Transit temperature. For the leg between the plant and your cold store, Codex CXC 8-1976 adds a second line: hold the product at −18 °C or colder, with the warmest package not above −12 °C in distribution. Write both figures into the contract, and require a continuous reefer temperature record with the shipping documents.

Containers. The number of drums per 20 ft or 40 ft reefer depends on the plant’s stuffing plan. It belongs in the quotation, not in a general article.

Aseptic packs. Aseptic packing is thinly documented for Vietnamese passion fruit concentrate. The only source for a shelf life of “up to 3 years” at ambient is a machinery vendor’s description of its line, not a product data sheet, so no figure is given here. If you agree an aseptic pack, the contract should forbid freezing it: aseptic packaging is not designed for frozen use, and its plastics can become brittle. The aseptic versus frozen puree comparison sets out the trade-off in full.

Small formats. Bag-in-box formats appear on some Vietnamese sheets. Treat them as by agreement, with the net weight stated in the contract.

Aroma recovery. Ask whether the plant runs aroma recovery. Passion fruit aroma is carried by volatile esters that are lost to evaporator heat, and a plant without recovery ships concentrate that reads correctly on Brix and acid and tastes flat in the glass.

Which microbiology and residue lines must you write in yourself?

No Vietnamese passion fruit concentrate source publishes numeric microbiology limits. TCVN 13941:2023 Table 3 sets E. coli and Salmonella criteria, but the values were not legible in the copy read for this article, and only the full, purchased text of the standard settles them. Agree the limits in the specification.

Alicyclobacillus. One line has to be added, because suppliers do not include it on their own: Alicyclobacillus, not detected in 10 g, by IFU MM12:2019 with an 80 °C × 10 min heat shock, on every lot. Note that IFU No.12 is a different method (HMF), and citing it by mistake invites a dispute.

Alicyclobacillus is not a pathogen, but it is a common spoiler of juice concentrate:

• Its spores survive normal acid-food pasteurisation at around 93–95 °C.
• It grows across a pH band that includes passion fruit’s TCVN floor of 2.3.
• It does not swell the bag or shift the pH, so a lot can pass its COA and spoil later in the buyer’s tank.
• The off-flavour is guaiacol, which tastes medicinal or antiseptic.

The spores come from soil on the fruit skin. The control is a lower spore load at intake, through washing, brushing and culling mud-soiled fruit, rather than more heat.

Residues. Residues rise with concentration, because evaporation removes water and leaves the residue behind. For passion fruit, pulp and seed go into the juice, so the processing factor runs above 1. In the EU, Article 20 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, read with guidance SANTE/10704/2021 Rev 1 (applicable from 19 March 2025), derives the limit for the processed product as the processing factor times the MRL of the fresh fruit. The food business operator carries the due-diligence burden.

As a worked illustration rather than measured data: going from single-strength juice at about 13.5 °Brix to 50 °Brix is roughly a 3.7× mass concentration. A residue sitting at 30 % of a limit in the juice arrives at about 110 % in the concentrate. Heavy-metal limits now sit in Regulation (EU) 2023/915, and the juice-specific entries should be checked against its Annex I for your lot.

What clauses go into the purchase order?

The clauses below translate the sections above into contract wording. Fill in the bracketed values from your own label law and recipe.

1. Product: passion fruit juice concentrate, frozen, 50 ±1 °Brix, cloudy, pulp [range] % v/v by centrifuge (speed and time stated). HS 2009.89. Reference standard for acidity, pH and storage: TCVN 13941:2023.
2. Brix: IFU No.8 at 20 °C, [acid-corrected: yes/no], read after thawing. Quantity settled on kg of soluble solids by this method.
3. Titratable acidity: [10.0–16.0] % w/w as citric acid, IFU No.3 to pH 8.1. pH: [2.3–3.5], IFU No.11. Both values stated on each lot’s COA.
4. The product is bought for reconstitution to [12.0 / 14.0] °Brix. The supplier states the lot’s Brix-to-acid ratio on the COA.
5. Alicyclobacillus: not detected in 10 g, IFU MM12:2019, every lot.
6. Residues: the finished concentrate complies with destination MRLs as applied under Article 20 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005.
7. Pack: double food-grade PE bags in steel drum, [250] kg net, at −18 °C or colder. The warmest package does not exceed −12 °C in transit, and a continuous reefer temperature record travels with the documents. Aseptic packs, if agreed, shall not be frozen.

Market access. A few destination-specific points sit alongside these clauses:

• United States. Under 21 CFR 120.1, “juice” includes concentrates, so the plant needs juice HACCP and the importer verifies under 21 CFR 120.14.
• Japan. An import notification is filed for each consignment under Article 27 of the Food Sanitation Act.
• European Union. CBI gives the common line for unsweetened concentrate as CN 2009 89 97, and Vietnam is one of the three largest suppliers of passion fruit concentrate to Europe.

Common questions

How much juice does 1 kg of 50 °Brix passion fruit concentrate make?

By mass, 1 kg of 50 °Brix passion fruit concentrate makes about 4.17 kg of juice at the EU and Codex minimum of 12.0 °Brix, 3.70 kg at 13.5 °Brix, and 3.57 kg at the US labelling basis of 14.0 °Brix. The ±1 °Brix tolerance moves yield by about 4 %, so settle quantity on kg of soluble solids by a named method.

What acidity should passion fruit concentrate have?

Vietnam’s national standard TCVN 13941:2023 sets titratable acidity for frozen passion fruit concentrate at 10.0–16.0 %, with pH 2.3–3.5. Vietnamese producer listings range from 9 to 18 %, and one producer website gives pH up to 4.5. Name the band and the method in the contract: IFU No.3 to pH 8.1, expressed as citric acid.

How is frozen passion fruit concentrate packed?

Vietnamese frozen passion fruit concentrate ships in double food-grade PE bags inside steel drums at 250 kg net, in 20 kg cartons, or in 18 kg plastic pails. A 250 kg drum is roughly the 200-litre drum quoted in European trade. Aseptic bag-in-drum is available by agreement only, and aseptic packs must never be frozen.

How long does frozen passion fruit concentrate keep?

Vietnamese producer data gives a minimum of 24 months at −18 °C or colder, matching the TCVN 13941:2023 storage condition. In distribution, Codex CXC 8-1976 adds that the warmest package must not exceed −12 °C. Write both temperatures into the contract and require a continuous reefer temperature record with the shipping documents.

What HS code applies to passion fruit concentrate?

Passion fruit juice concentrate falls under HS 2009.89, juice of any other single fruit. CBI gives the common EU line for unsweetened concentrate as CN 2009 89 97. Under the HS Chapter 20 subheading note, Brix is read at 20 °C, so the COA method should use the same reference temperature.