With international trade, from the time you place your order until the time the product enters your warehouse several weeks can pass, with shipping times along being at least 4 weeks. To help our customers keep tabs on where there order is at, we provide a weekly update with a visual diagram of your orders progress, from the time you order right through to when it arrives in your warehouse.

If you are not already getting these updates for your orders, please contact our Operations Manager, Matthew Steele, at matthew@tradelinksa.com, and you will be included on future updates on your own orders.

Like other things we do, these updates are part of making it easy for you to business with TradeLink International in our quest to be the most efficient, reliable and dynamic supplier of specialty foods.

Guide for Good Quality Chia Seed

As chia becomes more popular, it may be daunting for the first time buyer to know whether the chia they have been offered is of the quality they expect.

This guide is intended for B2B bulk buyers or importers of Chia seed rather than consumers.

Sellers of chia will offer different grades of chia seed and usually provide a specification which sets out the parameters which you will need to analyse and make a decision on based on the price you are paying and what you will be doing with the chia afterwards. If you are processing the chia further, then such things as immature seeds, other seed and impurities may not be an issue, however pesticides and micros will be an issue. So learn the points that differentiate a good chia from a bad, and then made an educated decision for your own scenario.

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Immature seeds

Chia seeds are usually a speckled blackish grey or white seed. Immature chia seeds are a brown colour and contain much lower nutritional values and therefore lower oil and omegas. A high number of brown seeds indicate a poor quality product although a small amount of brown seeds would be expected due to the difficulty in removing them all.

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Other seeds

Take a closer look, and then an even closer look. Low quality chia will contain some content of seeds from different weeds, the most common being a type of Amaranth which has tiny round, dark black seeds. They can be spotted since they are round, rather than the oval shape of the Chia seed. A high quality chia seed will not have any other seed, other than Chia, however, they are also difficult to remove so care must be taken to spot these.

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Impurities

As with the main commodities, chia is also susceptible to the usual impurities such as stalks, leaf, stones etc.

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Pesticides

Pesticide residues is something you should also be careful with for Chia from any region, regardless of whether it is certified organic or not. In our experience with Chia the only safe way to test your product for pesticides is to do your own testing at a reliable laboratory in Europe or the USA from samples taken at the time of loading by a third party. Beware with:
– Modified or falsified lab analysis supplied by the grower/exporter
– Samples provided for testing that may not be representative of the product you are purchasing
– Organic certificates provided that may not apply to the product they are shipping
– Conventional product sold as organic

TradeLink International is based in Argentina and doesn’t produce their own chia, however it contracts grows products and is deeply involved from crop planning along with rigid quality control, logistics and exportation. We also have the flexibility to work as a Third Party Trader and purchase on behalf of companies wanting full quality control in the region, at times even from their existing supply lines. Chia is our speciality and our concern is that the integrity of the product is maintained by all parties involved in this wonderful crop.

Vegetable protein is one of the fastest growing ingredients in the food industry.   Global demand for protein is expected to triple in the next decade.   Already pea/bean/pulse proteins are entering a phase were demand is exceeding supply. Chia protein is a high profile product which can give considerable market exposure and not only add protein to your products, but it also brings the added benefits of chia.

Prices for this product are the lowest they have been for the last five years as more volume generates scale.  The increased use of this excellent protein source into mainstream manufacturers has lighted the growing knowledge of the functionality of the product and it obvious benefits.

Chia Protein is organic, gluten free and GMO Free.    Contact us for more information.

Tapioca is a starch extracted from Manioc (Manihot esculenta). This species is native to Northern Brazil but spread throughout the South American continent. The plant was carried by Portuguese and Spanish explorers to most of the West Indies, and continents of Africa and Asia, including the Philippines and Taiwan; it is cultivated worldwide. In Brazil, the plant (cassava) is named mandioca, while its starch is called tapioca. The name tapioca is derived from the word tipi’óka, its name in the Tupí language, which was spoken by the natives when the Portuguese first arrived in the Northeast of Brazil. This Tupí word refers to the process by which the cassava starch is made edible. As the food and word were taken to other areas, “tapioca” was also applied to similar preparations made with other esculents.

TradeLink’s Tapioca has strong gelling power, making it extremely useful as a thickening agent. Unlike corn starch, tapioca can withstand a freeze thaw cycle without losing its gel structure or breaking down. TradeLink’s Tapioca is natural in flavour so does not disturb the main taste and aroma of the product. It is common in many food items as it improves texture and moisture retention.

Because TradeLink’s tapioca is the extracted starch from the cassava root, it is nearly 100 percent carbohydrates. Trace elements of other nutrients may remain in the tapioca, but tapioca is considered fat and protein free.

Our Tapioca certified gluten free and certified organic, by USDA, CERES, has HCAPP and GMP certifications.

We have the whole logistical process very well streamlined after many, many containers of Organic Tapioca Starch dispatched over the last 10 years!

The 37th annual Natural Products Expo West & Engredea, the world’s largest natural, organic and healthy products event, experienced another record-setting year playing host to more than 80,000 attendees including industry pioneers and a new generation of innovators shaping the future of healthy products. The show, produced by New Hope Network, was held March 9th-13th at the Anaheim Convention Center and brought together 3,100 exhibiting companies, including more than 500 first-time exhibitors.

The excitement and energy of the whole time was incredible! The new products, the new faces, the new companies…. as one CEO put it, “We love the energy and excitement at Expo West. This is the perfect event to launch a product because the key decision makers are in the same place. We’ve secured several placements for our new products this week and are thrilled about the momentum coming out of the show,”

The subject of Expoagro was the ‘Big Bang’ of the Argentine farming.   A decade of government policies which were unfriendly to farmers and a policy of high taxation on exports has ended.   This opens remarkable opportunities for farmers.  

An optimistic buzz was over the whole expo, however caution was still noted.    Argentina has midterm elections in October, and the concern is if the current President will get the support to continue his remarkable policies.   Even so, big capital items, harvesters, tractors and such reached record sales.   One wonders what would really happen if Argentina did get its act together, big bang would be a very apt description.  Meantime email us to see how you could benefit from the ever expanding opportunities.

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