Supplier qualification
How to read a food specification sheet
A technical data sheet is the document a supply program is judged against. Most disputes later turn out to be a sentence that was never on it, or a number that was typical when the buyer read it as a limit.
Last reviewed: September 22, 2026
01
Typical is not a limit
This is the single most consequential distinction on any specification, and it is often left implicit.
| Typical value | What the product usually measures. Descriptive. A batch outside it is not automatically non-conforming, and you cannot reject against it. |
|---|---|
| Limit | A maximum, a minimum, or a range the product must meet. This is the enforceable number, and it is what a rejection or a claim rests on. |
If a sheet gives a moisture content of 12 % without saying whether it is a typical value, a maximum or a range, the acceptance criterion is unclear. Confirm the limit and any tolerance before the program is confirmed, not after a batch lands at 14 %.
02
What a complete sheet carries
- Product identity - the common name, and where relevant the botanical or species name. Two products with the same commercial name can be different species.
- Physical parameters - appearance, size or grade, color, foreign matter and defect limits, each with a method.
- Chemical parameters - moisture, acidity or pH, and any contaminant limits that apply to the category.
- Microbiological limits - the organisms tested, the limit, and the sampling plan behind it.
- Allergens - present, and separately, present on the line.
- Shelf life - the period, and the storage conditions it assumes.
- Packaging - primary, secondary, units per case, and the pallet configuration.
- Origin - country of production, which is not always the country of the company issuing the sheet.
03
A limit without a method is not a limit
Two laboratories can return different results for the same parameter using different methods, and both be correct. A specification that states a number without naming the test method leaves the argument unresolved in advance.
The same applies to sampling. A microbiological limit means little without the sampling plan - how many units, from where in the lot, and what result rejects it.
04
The omissions that should stop a sign-off
- No issue date or version number. You cannot tell whether it matches the product being quoted.
- Shelf life with no storage condition. Twenty-four months at what temperature?
- A species or botanical name that does not match the common name. It happens, and it moves the product into a different regulatory category.
- Allergen section that lists only ingredients, and says nothing about the line or cross-contact.
- Nutritional data with no basis stated - per 100 g, per serving, as sold or as consumed.
- No clear link between the sheet and the producing site. A sheet issued by the seller is acceptable when the product and the producing site are traceable in the program documents.
Every one of these has been found on sheets issued by real producers. A specification is a document to be audited, not filed.
05
How we handle it
- Specifications are reconciled against the producing site records before a program is confirmed, not forwarded as received
- Where a supplier sheet and our own data disagree, the contradiction is raised with the buyer rather than resolved silently
- Limits are stated as limits, so a result can be judged rather than argued
- Published category specifications are summaries; the specification agreed for the selected program is the governing reference
Product programs this guide applies to
Next step
Planning a program that has to meet these requirements?
Send the product, target market, pack format and expected volume. We review the commercial fit and come back with the questions that matter before a quotation.
Source and scope
Source. General food specification practice, and the parameter groups common to Codex Alimentarius commodity standards and buyer specifications.
Scope. General guidance for commercial buyers. Required parameters differ by product category and destination market; the specification that governs any program is the one written into it.
Inquiries: sales@alphatradecorp.com