Industrial sourcing · China to Europe

Buyer-firstOpen route · visible proof

Buyer guide · Food & candy

Food dehydrator from China

No listing says how evenly air crosses the trays, and that decides whether the rear trolley is still wet when the front one is done.

Ask about this machine ↗Where the numbers come from

Written and listings checked 30 September 2026. Every figure on this page names its source.

What you are actually comparing.

Two quotes, one machine name

What hides inside the price

Heat source

Electric, steam, gas or heat pump. A heat pump condenses water out and reuses the heat; an electric oven vents hot, wet air. Ask which the price assumes.

Airflow path

Cross-flow with automatic reversal, or one fixed direction. Ask for the temperature spread between the tray nearest the fan and the furthest.

Tray area, not tray count

Tray size varies by maker. Count times length times width is the loading area you buy.

Humidity control

A timed damper, or a humidity sensor that opens it. Without a sensor the operator guesses.

Before you ask for a price.

Send these with the enquiry. Without them, any number a factory gives you is a guess dressed as a quotation.

Product, cut size and layer thickness on the tray.
Wet kilograms per batch and batches per day.
Start moisture and the end moisture or water activity required.
Energy on site: steam, gas, three-phase power.
Room temperature, since a heat pump works harder in a cold room.

Turn the claim into a demonstration.

Require this	A pass looks like
One full load of your product on every tray.	End moisture on front, middle and rear trays all within specification.
Probes at the fan side and the far side.	Temperature spread inside the contract figure for the whole cycle.
Energy meter on the supply.	Kilowatt hours per batch close to the quoted figure.

The documents that must arrive with it.

EU Declaration of Conformity for the serial number: 2006/42/EC, or Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 from 20 January 2027, plus 2014/35/EU and 2014/30/EU.
Declaration under Regulation (EC) 1935/2004 for trays and chamber lining.
Manual in the language of the country of use.

The one people forget. For a heat pump unit, the refrigerant type and charge, which a local contractor needs before servicing it.

When this is the wrong machine.

Buy something else if

Named, not hedged

You sell a crisp, porous product that must rehydrate.

A freeze dryer; warm air shrinks and hardens the structure.

You dry tonnes a day on continuous shifts.

A multi-layer belt dryer, which needs no trolleys.

Where the numbers come from.

We name the kind of source, how many and when, and never the factory. Listed prices are asking prices, not landed cost. Where we do not hold a fact we say so: that is a GAP, not an estimate.

Listings · 1One spec sheet for a 48-tray, two-trolley oven, September 2026: 120 kg per batch, 15 kW rated, 5 to 8 kW in use, heat efficiency 35 to 45%.
Listings · 12Twelve heat pump food dryer listings, September 2026: US$3,000 to US$90,000 at the range ends, ten between US$4,000 and US$30,000. Asking prices.
Listings · 12Twelve listings for industrial food dehydrator, September 2026, from US$160 to US$60,000, including a dewaterer and a freeze dryer.
GAPGAP - no supplier quotations logged for this machine yet. Three to five quotations for one configuration would give a real price spread.

Related machines.

Commercial freeze dryer. Pick it when texture and rehydration matter more than energy cost.
Spray dryer. Pick it when your raw material is a liquid.

Every machine we source in this area is on the Food & candy page. How a project runs, stage by stage, is on how it works, and what it costs is on pricing.

Straight answers

Questions buyers ask about this machine.

Chinese vs European food dehydrator: where is the difference?+

Airflow design, humidity control and heat pump compressor differ, and so does who services it.

What belongs on a food dehydrator inspection checklist?+

Tray area against the quote, tray material, fan reversal, sensor calibration, door seals, and one loaded cycle with a log.

What CE documentation does a food dehydrator need?+

A Declaration of Conformity for that serial number, backed by a technical file, and a food-contact declaration.

Who is the EU importer of a food dehydrator bought direct?+

Usually you: your name goes on the machine or papers, and you check the conformity file exists.

Contact

Tell us what you need.

Send a machine, a quotation you want checked, or a question. We reply with what we would look at first.