Sourcing frozen fruit and berries from China

Duty depends on the fruit and the sugar

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 27 September 2026, heading 0811 covers fruit and nuts, uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water, frozen, with or without added sugar. Its 38 lines split first by fruit and then by sugar. Unsweetened strawberries, raspberries and blackcurrants carried 14%, redcurrants, blackberries and mulberries 12%, and other berries of subheading 0811 20 14%. With added sugar, strawberries and the berries of 0811 20 carried 20%, or 20% plus £7 per 100 kg when the sugar content exceeds 13% by weight. No line carried an anti-dumping measure.

Under 'other fruit', unsweetened cherries carried 14% with no relief, but six of the eight other unsweetened lines had a 0% suspension: pineapple pieces, boysenberries and the residual 'other' line (such as frozen peaches or apricots) until 31 December 2028, tropical fruit and nuts (8% full rate) until 31 December 2026, wild blueberries (2%) until 2028, and bilberries (12%) under authorised-use supervision only. The suspension on the residual line is claimed on the declaration and does not apply to mixtures of different fruits, so a mixed-berry pack pays the full rate for its code.

Frozen vegetables, fruit in syrup and dried fruit have their own headings; see the frozen vegetables guide, the canned fruit guide and the dried fruit guide, and confirm the commodity code.

Food law, contaminants and quick-frozen rules

Frozen fruit is food under the Food Safety Act 1990 and retained Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, so the importer answers for its safety and traceability. Retained Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 sets a lead limit of 0.10 mg/kg for fruit and 0.20 mg/kg for currants, cranberries and elderberries, and Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 sets pesticide residue limits for each crop. Frozen berries have been linked to hepatitis A and norovirus outbreaks in Europe, so many buyers test for viruses as well as bacteria.

Fruit labelled 'quick-frozen' must meet the Quick-frozen Foodstuffs (England) Regulations 2007: after thermal stabilisation it must be at -18°C or colder and kept there, with brief rises to no warmer than -15°C allowed in transport. Retail packs follow Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on food information. Check before each season whether the product and origin appear on the UK list of high-risk food not of animal origin, which adds pre-notification and border checks.

Specifying frozen fruit

Specify variety, grade and size or dice size, IQF or block frozen, Brix and colour, allowed defects (stalks, calyx, mould, crushed pieces), foreign matter, pesticide and microbiological limits with viral testing, added sugar if any, pack size, core temperature at loading, and the reefer set point.

Worked duty example

An invented example rather than a quote: 22 tonnes of frozen strawberries without added sugar, commodity code 0811 10 90 00, bought for £26,000 free on board, with £3,800 of freight and insurance, so the customs value is £29,800. Duty at 14% is £4,172. Frozen fruit sold as food is generally zero-rated for VAT under VAT Notice 701/14, so in that case no import VAT is added, but check the liability for the exact product. Sweetened strawberries with more than 13% sugar (0811 10 11 00) would pay 20% plus £7 per 100 kg: £5,960 plus £1,540 on 22 tonnes, or £7,500. The duty and VAT guide walks through the calculation.

Inspection checklist

Product: count defects, calyx and foreign matter per kilogram, check size grading, clumping (a sign of thawing and refreezing) and colour against the approved sample.

Temperature: probe core temperatures at loading and check the reefer set point and data logger.

Laboratory: take lot samples for pesticide residues, lead and cadmium, and for E. coli, Listeria, norovirus and hepatitis A where the fruit may be eaten without cooking.

What goes wrong

Frozen fruit orders fail on residues, viruses, temperature and grading. Lots exceed a UK pesticide limit, berries carry viral contamination from irrigation water or handling, a warm loading leaves fruit clumped and freezer-burnt, and dice sizes or defects do not match the sample.

Test each lot before shipment, log the reefer, and inspect at loading. See our quality inspection guide.

Cambridge China Bridge sources frozen fruit for UK food manufacturers and caterers, checking the packer's cold chain and test records first. See container programmes.