Mentioned below are steps taken to maintain freshness in produce following the Cool-chain in detail:
All of Flora Capitals products are directly sourced from farms and delivered to the pack-house daily, with our own temperature-controlled delivery trucks. Every farm we source produce from has been certified - globally or domestically - in order to maintain the set standards in all stages of production, pre-harvest activities such as soil management & plant protection, product application to post-harvest produce handling, packing, and sorting. We ensure to eliminate the risk of contamination from the first stage of our production plan itself.
Our quality control inspector thoroughly checks produce for required color, weight, and temperature at the farm, before allowing the goods into our cold storage. We prioritize ensuring that the produce in our cold storage does not harm or contaminate other batches. We believe that excellent quality can be maintained by following set standards strictly. Produce from farms is transferred via cold-storage trucks into our cold-storage facility.
Different clients require produce of different specifications for ex: clean & shiny looking, raw & natural looking etc. To meet these requirements, we ensure to sort produce that best fits each clients requirement in terms of size, shape, color and texture. Grading the produce is an important step that is mutually beneficial to the buyer and seller, as properly graded fruits and vegetables are purchased by the end-consumer happily without any further inspection or concern.
Besides fulfilling varied packaging specifications per client, our packaging solutions also vary for different types of produce, sometimes even for the same produce. Some of the produce needs to be cut as set standards or client requirements, before packaging. Cutting styles of some fruits and vegetables such as Baby corns, Lemongrass, Asparagus, Kaffir lime leaf and Galangal can bring about an aesthetic quality, for ex: looking clean & easy to cook instantly.
To eliminate concerns - such as origin of produce, sanitary conditions of surroundings, cleanliness of the produce itself, how was it handled and by who - we believe in offering only clean and safe produce that meets standards, to our customers.
Washing some of our produce such as Baby corns, Lemongrass and Rambutans is essential. Other commodities, however, such as Longan, Guava, Custard Apple, Rose apple, Mango, Papaya, require only dry brushing for cleanliness. The selection between dry brushing or washing depends on type of produce & possible related contamination. We handle each phase with high level of hygiene in order to maintain confidence in our consumers.
We leave no stone unturned when it comes to packing the produce in an eye-catching packaging. We offer a number of packaging options such as cartons, bags, polypropylene trays, plastic boxes, foam trays, foam boxes, punnets and other client-specific forms. All our packaging materials meet food safety standards and are officially certified. Most importantly, our packaging is designed to protect the produce from mechanical damage and poor environmental conditions during handling & distribution stages.
Refrigeration is the principal method of successful storage of fresh fruits and vegetables to retain their freshness and flavor. Therefore, before the delivery of our produce, we make sure to keep the produce cool at the required temperature in appropriate storage condition to maximize the shelf life and maintain quality of harvested fruits and vegetables. The appropriate level of temperature is set based on the type of produce. We take pride in the application of knowledge related to storing our produce in order to maintain the quality and prevent deterioration.
The final stage of our operation consists of transition of produce from our storage to cargo handlers. To maintain the cool-chain, we deliver the produce in temperature-controlled, cold-storage trucks, which helps maintain the coolness of produce and avoid any possible damage. We understand that cool-chain systems are crucial to the growth of global trade of perishable products and thus, we take utmost care to not to break the cool-chain systems from the first till the last stage of our operations.