Quality assurance / farm audits
Save fruit and vegetable in the supermarket
Raising requirements of the supermarkets and discounters to the quality of organic fruit and vegetable as well as to conventional food cause various problems to the producers and to the traders.
Many warehouses require conventional fruit and vegetable, which is nearly free of chemical plant protection products.
Not all producers are able to fulfill these requirements.
HORTICONS checks by risk analysis, if a supplier has introduced an adequate quality control system to comply with the exigencies. In case of doubts, systematic residue analysis will lead to security.
The rapid growth of the organic market in the whole world causes a need of technical advice, but also to control, that the quality at the farm or packing station will be assured: Products must stay free of damage and contamination during the transport and the packing process, batches must not be mixed and the use of pesticides must be conform to the EC law.
In organic fruit and vegetables organic fertilization and the traceability to the grower or even to the field can be proved by special analytic methods.
Controls of organic farming require high knowledge about production and the packing process. These controls have additional aspects to official controls, to avoid any problems of quality and residues in the supermarkets.
In organic production and in conventional as well traceability systems are a necessary tool. Due to these systems it is possible to separate batches in case of reclamation to locate the origin of the problems. The evaluation and, if necessary, the improvement of a traceability system of producers and packing stations is an important part of the farm audits.
HORTICONS checks quality systems of your producers and helps to eliminate weak points.
Services of HORTICONS
Audits of Producers and Packing Stations
- Inspection of the quality control systems of producers and retailers to comply EC maximum residue levels and requirements of German trade chains
- Risk analysis of production and packing process
- Systematic organization of probes for residue analysis of pesticides
- Instruction of personnel to take effective probes for residue analysis
- Proof of origin by special analytic methods
- Agreements with producers´ organizations
- Inspection of the compliance of the EC regulations for organic farming (EC regulation 834/2007) in farms and packing stations with organic production
- Control of organic fertilization in certified organic farms
Concepts for Quality Assurance
- Development of Quality assurance concepts to secure product quality
- Concepts for farm management and personnel management
- Preparation of farms in conversion to organic farming according to EC regulation 834/2007 and for the certification of Global GAP
