quality + Technical
Our Mission
Our mission is to bring consumers the most succulent fruit, the tastiest vegetables and the most flavourful potatoes possible, retaining as much freshness and taste from the day they were picked. This means the journey from farm to fork needs to be as efficient and well-managed as possible.
We begin by using only certified, high quality seed to plant our crops. We monitor them closely; the effort put into crops in the ground dictates the quality of the product when it arrives on the supermarket shelf. Our Farm Manager Conor O’Malley and his team of growers visit crops daily, staying abreast of all technological developments and keeping up-to-date crop records. Traceability is of paramount importance in our supply chain management. We harvest all our produce with the utmost care so that when it arrives in the packhouse, it is in optimum condition for its journey to the consumer.
Once the produce leaves the field, it arrives in the capable hands of our Quality and Production Teams at the Meade farm and food production facility. They are there to meet the produce as it arrives and to ensure it meets all the specifications for our consumers in terms of size, taste and freshness. We want to ensure our potatoes are floury, our carrots have crunch, our onions have zing, that the peppers are zesty, the mangoes are refreshing and the lettuce is crisp.
The teams monitor the produce throughout its entire stay in the packhouse, keeping it at the optimum temperature, performing tests to ensure that it is in the best possible condition before it makes its way via our retailers to the nation's lunch boxes, dinner plates and fruit bowls.
QUALITY & TECHNICAL TEAMS
Nicole, Michelle, Aine, Hazel and the entire team spend more time out of the Quality office than they do in it, constantly out on the production floor and in the fields checking every batch of our produce to ensure that it is premium quality from farm to fork. They measure temperatures, check sugar levels, inspect for blemishes and double check all the crop records for our potatoes, fruit and vegetables so that they can rest assured that our produce meets our exacting standards. They enjoy crossing their t’s and dotting their i’s when it comes to paperwork, which is another reason why they do such a great job. They are helped in this by our bespoke IT software system, MIQS, which allows them to send instant quality reports to farm managers, buyers and retailers.
Áine Murphy & Hazel Meade
Technical Team
Our job is to ensure that all safety measures and procedures around the farm, the packhouse and with all our products are being properly followed. We have regular independent audits to certify us with Bord Bia, the Irish Organic Association and BRCGS; these ensure that our packhouse is being run as safely as possible in every aspect - from food safety to employee safety and beyond.
Lucy McDonnell & Nicole Clarke
Quality Assurance Team
We check all produce when it first comes into the packhouse and regularly throughout its stay until it is dispatched to our customers. We perform various tests depending on the produce to ensure it is up to our standards whether it be for sweetness from fruit or dry matter from potatoes or crispness from vegetables.
We are certified with Bord Bia, BRCGS (food safety certifying body), Global GAP and IOA (Irish Organic Association), the main certifications for produce growers and pre-packers. We pride ourselves on our high performance in audits. We are also certified members of the Origin Green sustainability programme.
CERTIFICATION
