Product specification sheets are essential when creating new flavors with juice concentrates. These sheets allow juice concentrate companies like Northwest Naturals to be transparent, their clients to be informed, and their partnerships to be efficient and effective.
Clients can use product specification sheets to make informed decisions, ensure product quality and safety, and meet specific needs and requirements. It creates transparency and trust between our company and our clients.
Despite their importance, product specification sheets might feel daunting and confusing. Northwest Naturals has created a guide to help you understand these documents so you can make the best decisions for your applications.
Why Clients Should Require a Product Specification Sheet
Product specifications are essential to making informed decisions while creating your application. Here are a few reasons why:
Quality Assurance
The specification sheet provides detailed information about ingredients, composition, and manufacturing processes, allowing clients to assess its suitability for their goals.
Nutritional Information
The spec sheet includes information about calories, sugar content, vitamins, and minerals, helping clients make informed choices based on the clientele’s dietary needs. It will also list any potential allergens, such as nuts or dairy.
Safety and Compliance
The specification sheet outlines our adherence to quality and safety regulations, which is crucial for businesses to maintain compliance. Learn how Northwest Naturals stays in compliance all year long.
Storage and Handling Instructions
The sheet guides how the product should be stored and handled, helping clients prevent spoilage or contamination.
Product Traceability
In the event of a product recall, the product specification sheet allows customers to trace the product origin and identify any potential issues in the supply chain.
Marketing and Labeling
The specification sheet is a reference for labeling and marketing the final product. It ensures product descriptions are consistent with its actual characteristics.
How to Read a Northwest Naturals Spec Sheet
Below is a list of terms clients might see on a Northwest Naturals specification sheet. Understanding what they mean will help inform decisions and keep clients knowledgeable about what exactly is going into their products.
Brix
Brix (°Bx) is commonly used to demonstrate sugar concentration in the juice. It is measured as a percentage of sugar by weight in the liquid. For example, if a juice concentrate has a Brix value of 60, it means that 60% of the liquid’s weight is sugar. Brix is important for determining the sweetness of juice concentrates and calculating dilution ratios when reconstituting the concentrate.
pH
While Brix measures sugar, pH measures acidity. The pH scale typically ranges from 0 to 14, with seven being neutral. The lower the number, the more acidic the juice.
Titratable Acidity
Titratable acidity measures the total amount of acid present in a juice concentrate. It is expressed as the amount of acid in grams (usually citric acid) required to neutralize a sample of the juice concentrate. This differs from pH because titratable acidity provides information about the quantity of acid, while pH provides information about the strength of acidity.
Clarity
Clarity is how the juice appears. It measures the product’s transparency and freedom from particles or haze. Clarity is an important quality attribute for juice concentrates, and is typically assessed visually.
Microbiological
Microbiological refers to microorganisms, such as bacteria, yeast, molds, and other microscopic life forms as they relate to the production, processing, quality control, and safety of juice concentrates.
Need Additional Support?
At Northwest Naturals, we view manufacturing juice concentrates as a science as much as a culinary art. Northwest Naturals understands that as exciting as it is to experiment with fruits and flavors, we cannot lose sight of the importance of quality control, safety, and compliance.
Ultimately, our goal is to help our clients reach their flavor goals and bring their applications to life. We have the expertise to get you there. For additional information on how to read product specification sheets or to start infusing juice concentrates into your applications, contact us on our website.