We haven’t been idle in these last few months here at TradeLink, its a busy time of year for us but we’re 100% focused on doing what we are best at and just love doing. Feet on the ground, dirty boots and that nice fresh farm air!
Working on the 2018 supply of chia we have done a series of improvements which place us as yet again a very reliable source of product out of a very difficult region to buy in.
Here’s what we’re doing;
Visiting and selecting the best farms. Location is key to good organic product so we put this as priority, things like certifications, planting methods, crop history, weed control among other things are what we look at. We have identified 5000hs of land that will be supplying the 2,500tns of product we forecast this year.
Auditing the processing plants. The final purity is based on just how good the processing plant is. There are so many substandard processing plants around the world, some of them even certified with GFSI and BRC but just lacking the technology to get out a good pure chia. We have audited 15 different processing plants and selected 2 of them so far, with more audits still being conducted.
Contracts. We are now setting up final contracts with our clients. The big advancement this year is offering farm cleaned product at 93% pure for those who have processing plants and wish to process the product themselves.
The alternatives we are offering are:
• Black or White Chia
• Processed or farm cleaned
• Organic or Conventional
• EU, ISTA and USDA/NOP standards
• 25kg and 1000kg packaging.
Quality Assurance. The one and only reason we are based in South America and have our feet on the ground (apart from loving it!) is to guarantee the quality of the product we offer. Here’s what we are doing in quality assurance;
• Soil analysis with the organic certifiers and SENASA.
• Crop monitoring. We have different associates keeping an eye on the crops and ensuring that our product is legitimately grown.
• Analysis prior to processing. We will know what standard of chia we will have prior to processing.
• Post processing analysis to check purity and micros.
• Loading inspections and sampling in view of compiling a complete loading report. (also done for farm cleaned product)
• Complete certificate of analysis and pesticides screening.
We’re not the most reliable supply of chia out of South America for nothing, there’s a lot of work going on to back up our promises and commitments!
Contact us in these coming weeks if you’d like to set up a contract with us and we’re always open to one off purchases!
