Fresh produce AI glossary

How to use this glossary

Fresh produce has its own language, and so does artificial intelligence. When the two meet, conversations can get confusing quickly. A packhouse manager may not know what a "prompt" or a "large language model" is; a software consultant may not know what "packout" or a "traceability lot code" means. This glossary covers both sets of terms in plain English, with notes on how each one relates to using an AI chatbot such as Pak-Bot in a produce business.

Terms are grouped into produce operations, food safety and traceability, commercial terms and AI terms. Each entry can be linked directly.

Produce operations terms

Bin

A large container, often holding several hundred kilograms, used to move produce from the field to the packhouse. Raw stock in bins is product waiting to be packed. Ask the chatbot "potatoes in bins" to see it separately from finished stock.

Tote

A reusable container smaller than a bin, used for harvest, storage or internal movement. Weight of totes in stock is a common way to size the day's packing runs.

Packout

The proportion of incoming product that ends up as saleable packed product, usually stated as a percentage of intake weight. First-grade packout is the share packed at top grade. Packout drives packing margin and, in many arrangements, grower returns.

Grade

A quality category, such as first grade, second grade or processing grade, defined by size, colour, defects and other specifications. Grades often sell at very different prices.

Yield

Output as a share of input. In a packhouse, yield usually means packout; in fresh-cut processing it means finished cut product as a share of raw material.

FIFO (first in, first out)

A stock rotation rule: the oldest product is used or shipped first. Critical for perishables. List the 10 oldest inventory items turns FIFO into a concrete list.

FEFO (first expired, first out)

A variation of FIFO that ships product with the earliest expiry date first, useful when shelf life varies between lots.

Cool room

A refrigerated store used to hold produce at the right temperature and humidity. Cool room capacity and stock age are among the most frequent operational questions.

Pack format

The way product is presented for sale: cartons, trays, flats, clamshells, punnets, net bags, poly bags and so on. The same commodity in different pack formats is usually tracked as different products. Red onion in poly bags asks about one format.

Packing run

A period of packing a particular product, from particular intake, on a particular line. Packout is often analysed per run.

Intake or receival

The arrival of product from a grower or supplier, recorded with quantity, date, source and often inspection results.

Site

A physical location such as a packhouse, cool store or warehouse. Pak-Bot knows which site each employee works at and filters answers accordingly.

Stocktake

A physical count of inventory used to correct system records. Accurate AI answers depend on stocktake corrections being made in the system.

Pallet label

A label identifying a pallet's contents, often with a barcode such as an SSCC, used by distribution centres to receive stock.

Food safety and traceability terms

FSMA 204

Section 204 of the US Food Safety Modernization Act, which led to the FDA's Food Traceability Rule. The compliance date is 20 July 2028. See traceability AI.

Food Traceability List (FTL)

The FDA list of foods subject to the Food Traceability Rule. It includes many fresh produce items such as leafy greens, fresh herbs, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, melons, sprouts, tropical tree fruits and fresh-cut produce.

Critical tracking event (CTE)

A point in the supply chain where traceability records must be kept, such as harvesting, cooling, initial packing, shipping, receiving and transformation.

Key data element (KDE)

A specific piece of information recorded at a CTE, such as product description, quantity, location, date and traceability lot code.

Traceability lot code (TLC)

A code identifying a traceability lot, assigned at events such as initial packing and transformation and carried through later records. Printing labels from system data keeps the TLC on the carton consistent with the record.

Transformation

Changing a food or its packaging, for example cutting, mixing or repacking. New lot codes are assigned and linked to input lots.

Mock recall

A practice exercise that traces a lot forward and back to test how quickly the business can identify affected product and customers.

Corrective action

A documented response to a failed check, such as a temperature failure or contamination finding. Producepak can raise alerts when an inspection requires one.

Inspection template

A defined set of checks for a stage or product, such as receival, in-process or finished goods. Producepak lets each business design its own.

Commercial terms

Consignment

An arrangement in which a grower or exporter retains ownership of product while a marketer or agent stores and sells it, paying the owner after sale less agreed charges. See grower reporting.

Inventory owner

The party that owns a given item of stock. Totals of inventory owned by ACE Farming Group asks about one owner.

Grower payment or settlement

The calculation and payment of what a grower is owed, based on intake, packout, sales and charges.

Fill rate

The share of ordered quantity actually delivered. Walmart orders vs sales Q1 2026 is a fill rate question.

Short-shipment

A delivery with less than the ordered quantity, often due to supply shortfall or quality rejection.

Customer concentration

The degree to which revenue depends on a few customers. A top-five customer chart shows it quickly.

Purchase order (PO)

A customer's order document. Pak-Bot can turn PO documents into orders for staff to approve.

EDI (electronic data interchange)

Structured electronic exchange of documents such as orders and invoices between trading partners, common with large retailers.

Bill of lading (BOL)

A shipping document listing what was loaded onto a vehicle for a consignee.

GTIN

Global Trade Item Number, the number behind most retail product barcodes.

Credit note

A document reducing what a customer owes, for example after a rejection or short-shipment.

AI terms

AI chatbot

Software that holds a conversation in natural language. Pak-Bot is a chatbot connected to Producepak data, so it can answer questions about a specific business.

Large language model (LLM)

An AI model trained on large amounts of text to understand and generate language. Pak-Bot uses one to interpret questions; the figures in answers come from Producepak's database.

Generative AI

AI that produces new content such as text, images or code. Pak-Bot describes its reporting as generative because it builds each report from the question rather than from a fixed template.

Prompt

The text, or speech, given to an AI system. In Pak-Bot, a prompt is simply your question, such as Sales by state last month.

Natural-language query

Asking a database a question in everyday language instead of a query language or report menu.

Ad hoc report

A report created for a specific question at a specific moment rather than designed in advance. Pak-Bot generates ad hoc reports on request.

Hallucination

Confident but incorrect AI output. Using the model to interpret questions and the database to calculate answers reduces this risk for figures.

Role-based access

Restricting data by a user's job role. Pak-Bot knows which employees can see sales data.

Site filtering

Restricting answers to the sites a user works at.

Feedback loop

Using user ratings and comments to improve an AI system. Every Pak-Bot answer has a star rating and comment box, and the Producepak team uses that feedback for training.

Progressive web app (PWA)

A web application that can be installed on a device and opened like a native app. Producepak, with Pak-Bot, is a PWA that installs on Android and Windows.

Voice input

Speaking a prompt instead of typing it. Pak-Bot's microphone button makes this practical on the packing floor.

Document extraction

Reading text and structure from documents such as PDFs and images. Used when Pak-Bot turns a purchase order into an order.

Credits

A counter shown in the Pak-Bot window that tracks usage. Contact Producepak about credit allowances.

More produce and supply chain terms

Field heat

The heat held in produce at harvest. Removing it quickly through cooling slows deterioration and extends shelf life; cooling is also a critical tracking event for some produce under FSMA 204.

Forced-air cooling

A method of rapid cooling that pulls cold air through packed produce. Receival and cooling temperatures are common inspection items.

Hydrocooling

Cooling produce with chilled water, common for some vegetables and stone fruit.

Shelf life

How long a product stays saleable. Shelf-life settings in the product record drive best-before dates on labels.

Count size

The number of fruit per standard carton, used to describe size for products like avocados, citrus and stone fruit. "Avocados count 20" refers to a size.

Brix

A measure of soluble sugar content, often recorded in quality inspections for fruit such as grapes, melons and citrus.

Pressure test

A firmness measurement used to judge ripeness or maturity in fruit such as apples, pears and avocados.

Repack

Re-sorting or repacking product, for example to remove defects or change pack format. Repacking is a transformation for traceability purposes.

Distribution centre (DC)

A retailer's warehouse that receives supplier deliveries before distributing to stores. DCs often reject deliveries with non-compliant labels.

SSCC

Serial Shipping Container Code, a barcode number identifying a logistics unit such as a pallet.

Landed cost

The total cost of imported product delivered to the warehouse, including purchase price, freight, duties and charges.

Claim

A request for compensation, for example from an importer to a shipper after arrival inspection shows quality problems.

Specification (spec)

A customer's requirements for product, pack and label. Finished-goods inspections check product against it.

Dashboard

A screen showing a fixed set of charts and figures. Producepak includes logistics, sales and profit dashboards; the chatbot covers questions that dashboards do not.

Using these terms with the chatbot

Most of the produce terms on this page can be used directly in questions to Pak-Bot, as long as they match how your business records them in Producepak. "Totes", "poly bags", "packout", "oldest" and "owned by" are all words the chatbot can work with. If your business uses a term differently, for example calling a field bin a "crate", use the name as it appears in your records, and leave a comment on the answer so the Producepak team can teach the chatbot your terminology. Over time, the feedback from many produce businesses helps Pak-Bot understand the language of the industry as a whole.

Suggest a term

Produce language varies by region and commodity. A "flat" in one country is a "tray" in another; "packout" is used differently by different crops; growers, agents and marketers each have their own shorthand. If your business uses terms that are not on this page, or uses these terms differently, mention them to the Farmsoft and Producepak team through the demo and contact link. Useful additions will be included here, and the same terms can be fed back to improve how Pak-Bot reads questions.

This glossary will grow as Pak-Bot gains new abilities and as produce businesses share the vocabulary they use every day. For a practical introduction to putting these terms to work, see the adoption guide and the analytics page.

Glossary questions