The single most useful thing a buyer can do to get consistent spice is to write a specification that can be tested against.
It is also the thing most often skipped, because the first order is always urgent. You need the goods, the supplier seems fine, and writing a document feels like it will slow everything down.
It takes about an hour. It prevents most of the arguments that follow. This page explains what goes in one and why each part is there.
A number without a method is not a specification
Start with the most common mistake.
“Ash 7% max” looks like a specification. It is not complete. Ash measured how? By which standard? At what temperature?
“Moisture 10% max” has the same problem. Measured by oven drying over several hours? Or by a handheld meter that gives three different readings depending on where you push it into the bag?
Two laboratories using two different methods will return two different numbers on the same sample. Neither of them is wrong. They measured different things.
So state the method next to every limit. It removes an entire category of dispute before it starts.
You do not need to be an analytical chemist to do this. Ask your supplier which method their laboratory uses, write it down, and use the same one for any check you run at your end.
Specify a range, not a single point
Agricultural products vary. They vary between farms, between seasons and between lots from the same field.
A specification that demands one exact value has two possible outcomes. Either it gets missed, or it gets met by a supplier who has quietly decided which figure to report.
Neither helps you.
A range with a clear limit is honest about the material and still enforceable. For example: “ASTA 70 to 85, 70 minimum.” That tells the supplier what is acceptable and tells them where the line is.
Where a single figure really is critical, say so and expect to pay for the selection work.
What a complete specification covers
Work through these eight areas. Not every line applies to every product, but the headings do.
1. Identity
- Botanical name. “Cinnamon” is not an identity; Cinnamomum cassia is.
- Variety or trade grade, where one exists.
- Origin region, if it matters to you.
- Crop year.
Identity clauses catch substitution, and substitution is common wherever two products share a name.
2. Physical
- Form: whole, cracked, ground.
- Mesh or size grading for ground material, or sieve size for whole.
- Purity percentage, with the counting method.
- Extraneous matter and foreign matter.
- Light, broken or damaged percentage.
3. Chemical
- Moisture.
- Total ash and acid insoluble ash. The second one is the real test for added sand or soil.
- Volatile oil, for aromatic spices.
- The active compound that drives the value: curcumin in turmeric, piperine in pepper, ASTA in chilli, Scoville for heat.
4. Safety
- Pesticide residue panel, tested against your destination market rather than a general standard.
- Heavy metals, with lead named where the product warrants it.
- Aflatoxin and other mycotoxins where relevant, especially chilli, nutmeg and dried figs.
- Microbiology: total plate count, yeast and mould, Salmonella, E. coli.
5. Treatment
- Untreated, steam sterilised or irradiated.
- The values after treatment, not before. Treatment changes moisture and volatile oil.
- Any treatment you prohibit.
6. Packing
- Bag or carton type, and net weight per unit.
- Liner, where the product needs one.
- Palletisation and pallet treatment.
- Shipping marks.
7. Labelling
- Destination market requirements.
- Allergen statements.
- Lot coding and date marking format.
- Language.
8. Documents
State which certificates travel with the shipment, in whose name, and how many originals. Several of them cannot be issued after the vessel sails.
Agree the sampling method too
This is the clause almost everyone forgets, and it causes more disputes than any single quality parameter.
Think about what happens without it.
Your supplier draws a composite sample. That means small amounts taken from many bags across the whole lot and mixed together. The result represents the average of the container.
Your team at the destination opens the doors and takes a sample from the bags they can reach, which are the ones at the back, at the top, nearest the doors.
The two results differ. Both parties believe the other is at fault. Both are testing honestly.
So agree, in writing and before the first shipment:
- How a sample is drawn.
- From how many bags or increments.
- From where in the lot.
- How the increments are combined and reduced.
- Who witnesses it, if anyone.
- Whether sealed retained samples are kept, and for how long.
Retained samples matter more than they sound. If a claim comes up six weeks later, a sealed sample from the shipped lot is the only thing that can settle it.
Tolerances and what happens when they are missed
A good specification also says what happens if a value falls outside the range.
Not every miss is a rejection. A small shortfall on colour might be worth a price allowance. A failed residue test is not negotiable.
Decide in advance which parameters are critical and which are adjustable. Write that down. It converts a future argument into a calculation.
Keep it to two pages
A specification nobody reads protects nobody.
Two pages is usually enough for one product. A table with the parameter, the limit, the method and the note is easier to work from than paragraphs.
Give it a version number and a date. When you change something, change the version. Then both sides can say exactly which document a shipment was made against.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Copying a specification from another product and forgetting to change the parameters that do not apply.
- Setting limits tighter than your process needs, which you pay for on every container.
- Naming a standard without naming which version of it.
- Leaving the residue panel as “as per international standards”, which means nothing.
- Specifying values before treatment when the goods will be treated.
The short version
Write down the limit, the method and the tolerance for every parameter that matters. Agree how samples are drawn. Say which certificates travel with the goods. Give the document a version and a date.
That is the whole job, and it is the difference between a supplier you can hold to something and a supplier you can only complain to.
If you would rather not start from a blank page, send us the application and we will draft a specification for your approval. It costs nothing and it is a great deal cheaper than discovering the gap during the first dispute.