Quality control for the produce industry

As any supplier of fresh produce will be well aware, food items such as vegetables, fresh fruit, berries, beans, corn, nuts, grains, and cereals must be shipped and stored swiftly after harvesting. This type of produce must also be stored in a protective environment to ensure that it does not start to spoil before it reaches consumers.

Thanks to the time-sensitive nature of fresh produce, therefore, any disruptions to a producer’s supply chain or problems surrounding food storage conditions can impair product quality and cause a raft of new problems surrounding health and safety and consumer satisfaction. In this way, it is vitally important for suppliers of fresh produce to ensure that they double-check the state of the items they intend to sell both when they leave the packaging facility or form and, indeed, when it arrives at its destination. They must also attend to any problems that may hinder the supply chain and rectify them as soon as possible.

For businesses hoping to purchase containers of fresh produce as part of their goods and services offering, it is important to double-check that this produce is fresh, delicious and safe to eat. This is where we come in.

At SCRUTINIS, we provide a range of services for those involved in the fresh produce sector including produce testing and produce supplier audits. Indeed, our team of lab experts is committed to ensuring that clients’ produce is free from contaminants and suitable for consumption. This means that we thoroughly check the quality of produce before and after it is shipped, offering clients peace of mind in regards to the safety and quality of the items they sell.

We offer specially-tailored produce inspection services for food items including:

• Vegetables, corn, and beans
• Fresh fruits and berries
• Nuts, cereals, and grains
• Sunflower oil, Peanut oil, Coconut oil, Palm oil, Corn Oil

We only hire the most knowledgeable experts

All of the lab technicians who work at SCRUTINIS have unbeatable produce inspections expertise. This means that they are able to follow meticulous safety and inspections protocols based on individual client requirements, international regulations, and the legislative regulations set out by the relevant destination market. For example, to ensure that all samples collected during product audits are representative of their wider shipments, we make sure to adhere to the ANSI/ASQC Z1.4 (ISO 2859-1), an international sampling process, and the rules set out by the World Health Organisation’s Food Code (also known as the Codex Alimentarius).

Before any produce is loaded onto a vehicle for shipment, our meticulous inspectors will double-check its condition. This means ensuring that it is packaged and labelled correctly and is of high quality. Once the shipment arrives at its intended destination, the team will be ready and waiting to conduct a comprehensive produce inspection, making sure that your goods have not been spoiled or tampered with during transit.

We offer detailed inspection reports

Our team of experts is committed to writing up same-day inspection reports to help organisations make well-informed and quick decisions about their supply chain. SCRUTINIS also offers clients an online tracker that provides real-time data about a given supply chain. With this data, clients can monitor trends and benchmark certain suppliers.

How is produce safety determined?

We determine the safety of produce using the following solutions:

• Weight and diameter check to ensure a degree of uniformity across a supply chain
• Quality check to monitor the maturity, colour, shape, and firmness of a given product
• A check for defects including those that are merely cosmetic
• Microbiological tests to determine food safety
• Physico-chemical tests to determine the presence of chemicals such as pesticides

We offer detailed supplier audits

Our detailed supplier audits help clients to stay on top of the safety and compliance credentials of their produce suppliers, thereby helping them to identify areas for improvement. We offer a range of different audit types including:

Farm and greenhouse audits

These audits look for potential contaminants that may appear during produce growth. This means ensuring that proper protocols are followed surrounding the use of fertiliser, water usage and irrigation processes, pest control, food security, land usage, and employee hygiene and safety.

Ethical audits

We will investigate suppliers to ensure that they comply with the rules surrounding workers’ rights and conditions.

Food safety audits

Food safety audits help to ensure that suppliers use stringent quality management systems to keep their supply chain safe.

Harvest crew audits

We will ensure that employees involved with harvesting produce are kept safe and that working practices are hygienic.

Why opt for SCRUTINIS?

We offer clients a range of benefits including:

• Online audit reports that can be accessed quickly
• Quick report turnaround
• Global coverage so produce from all corners of the world can be safety tested
• Unbeatable inspection expertise from highly-trained agricultural professionals
• Industry expertise
• Stringent sampling procedures to ensure your whole supply chain is covered