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Quality and food safety
Nine checks before a bag gets sealed.
In this trade, quality is mostly about saying no — to a cheap lot, to a shortcut on cleaning, to loading a container when the retest comes back borderline. Below is every point where a lot can be stopped, so you can see exactly what stands between the field and your factory.
- 01
Pre-purchase inspection
At the yard, before any money moves
- 02
Intake sampling
Drawn across the lot, not off the top
- 03
Cleaning to specification
Destoner, gravity, optical sorter
- 04
Metal detection
Magnet and detector before packing
- 05
In-house laboratory
Moisture, purity, admixture, ash
- 06
External accredited testing
Residue, aflatoxin, microbiology
- 07
Pre-shipment sample approval
Sealed, numbered, sent before loading
- 08
Packing and marking check
Weight, liner, marking, batch code
- 09
Container inspection and stuffing
Checked empty, photographed sealed
Control points
Where a lot can
be stopped.
At each of these nine points the material either moves forward or goes back. Most suppliers only tell you about the last one. The cheap rejections are the early ones, and that is where we do most of them.
We look at a lot in the yard before any money moves — colour, smell, moisture by feel, a quick admixture check. Most of our rejections happen right here, where they cost nothing and delay nobody.
- Visual and sensory check
- Moisture meter reading
- Origin and seller noted
Samples are drawn from across the lot, not scooped off the top. One composite sample goes to the bench; a counter sample is sealed, labelled with the lot number and kept here.
- Multi point drawing
- Composite and counter samples
- Lot number assigned
Destoning, gravity separation and optical sorting, run until the purity in your contract is reached. If a lot cannot get there without losing too much weight, we buy a different lot rather than send you a compromise.
- Destoner and de-duster
- Gravity separator
- Optical and colour sorter
Magnetic separation and a metal detector pass before anything is packed. The detector is checked against test pieces at the start of every run, so a failure is caught immediately rather than at the end of a shift.
- Magnet and detector pass
- Test piece verification
- Rejection log kept
Moisture, purity, admixture, foreign matter and ash on every single lot, plus volatile oil where the product calls for it. Every result is recorded against the lot number, so any bag can be traced back.
- Moisture and purity
- Admixture and foreign matter
- Ash and acid insoluble ash
- Volatile oil where relevant
Pesticide residue, aflatoxin, heavy metals and microbiology, tested at an accredited laboratory whenever your contract or your country requires it. Where the laboratory allows it, the report is issued in your name so you can show it to your own authority.
- Residue panels to EU or buyer limits
- Aflatoxin B1 and total
- Salmonella and total plate count
A sealed sample from the finished lot reaches you before the container is loaded. On repeat programmes we skip this step only if you ask us to in writing.
- Sealed and numbered
- Courier tracking shared
- Counter sample retained here
Bag weight, liner, stitching, marking and batch code are all checked against the contract. Wrong marking is not a cosmetic issue — it holds your container at customs.
- Weight verification
- Marking against artwork
- Batch code traceability
The container is checked for smell, damp and traces of previous cargo before anything goes in. Photographs of the empty container, the loading and the sealed doors reach you the same day.
- Empty container inspection
- Stuffing photographs
- Seal number recorded
Testing scope
What gets
tested, and
by whom.
In-house testing is fast and costs you nothing. External laboratory testing costs real money and takes days, so we agree exactly which panel is needed when we sign the contract — you will never get a surprise invoice for testing from us.
| Test | Where | Every lot |
|---|---|---|
| Moisture | In house | Yes |
| Purity and admixture | In house | Yes |
| Foreign matter | In house | Yes |
| Total ash | In house | Yes |
| Volatile oil | In house or external | Product dependent |
| Pesticide residue | Accredited external lab | On contract |
| Aflatoxin | Accredited external lab | On contract |
| Heavy metals | Accredited external lab | On contract |
| Microbiology | Accredited external lab | On contract |
Laboratory partner: [ name the accredited lab ]. Certificate scans travel with the shipping documents.
If something goes wrong
Our rejection
and claim
policy.
Counter samples are the reason a claim can be settled in a day instead of argued for a month. We keep one for every lot, sealed, with the lot number and date on it. If you ever have a problem, we both look at the same sealed sample.
- Counter samples retained for [ retention period ] after shipment.
- A lot outside contract tolerance is reported before loading, not after.
- Arrival claims are assessed against the sealed pre shipment sample.
- Where an independent surveyor is involved, we accept the finding.