How we source

We visit the supplier facility or farm and check the premises where the goods are grown, stored and made ready. We look at the equipment and the processes that bring the product to readiness, how the goods are handled, and how batches are kept separate for each order, and we confirm on the ground what the supplier has told us. We also verify any certification the supplier holds. Laboratory testing of samples follows at a later stage to confirm that the goods are export worthy, which matters particularly where we buy from wholesalers who process crops from several farms together.

Samples are drawn from the supplier's material and shared with the buyer, and the specification is agreed in writing before the order is confirmed. It sets out the grade, the physical characteristics, the packing and the limits the goods must meet in the destination market. Both sides then work to the same document, and it becomes the reference for testing, for inspection and for the final check before dispatch. Where a buyer has a house standard or a customer of their own to satisfy, that is built into the specification at this stage.

Supply is not constant, and neither is price or quality. We follow the supply through the year in the areas we buy from and keep buyers informed of what we are seeing. For agricultural goods that means sowing and harvest timing, arrivals at the local market, and how quality is running against a normal year. A shift of two weeks in a harvest changes what can be shipped and when. For goods that keep, it means managing inventory and storage so that supply is there as it is needed. For regular buyers we plan around their ordering pattern, so material is arranged ahead of the order.

A lot is one batch, from one source, bought at one time. We buy by the lot and give it its own identity at the point of purchase, which stays with it through storage, packing and loading. Each lot is stored and moved on its own, and its batch reference is carried on the paperwork and on the packaging, so the goods that were inspected and tested are the goods that arrive. Where an order is made up of more than one lot, each is tested and recorded separately and the buyer is told what the consignment consists of. Lot records also let us repeat a grade for a returning buyer, because we know exactly what was supplied last time.

Goods are checked against the rules of the market they are going to, since the limits differ from one country to the next. For spices this means laboratory testing for pesticide residue and contaminants at the quality evaluation laboratories of the Spices Board of India, the government body that regulates spice exports. For fresh vegetables it means grading at a packhouse, a covered facility where produce is sorted, graded and packed under hygienic conditions, recognised for export purposes by APEDA, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority. Grading covers size, maturity and condition. Test reports and grading records go to the buyer, and where a buyer's own market calls for an additional test, we arrange it.

Packing is chosen for the journey the goods have to make and agreed with the buyer before the order is confirmed, covering the material, the unit weight and the markings the destination requires. Fresh produce is packed at the packhouse closest to the supply, so it is handled as few times as possible between grading and loading. Cold storage is arranged where the product calls for it, agreed with the supplier at the time of buying, and produce is moved as close to fresh as the schedule allows. Goods that travel dry are packed to hold moisture and condition across the length of the voyage. A buyer's own labelling and marking requirements are built in at this stage.

Every lot carries a record: the supplier, the area it came from, the dates, the test reports, the grading and inspection notes, and the packing detail. Records are held against the batch reference, so a question about a past consignment is answered from the file. They also support repeat supply, because the same grade can be arranged again through the same route, and they form the evidence pack that goes to a buyer or to an authority when documentation is called for.