QUALITY ASSURANCE

At Carmel, comprehensive and stringent Quality Assurance procedures are part of our DNA.

They begin with our growers preparing the field for planting and end with retail sales of our final packaged products. From the start we make sure that:

• Our growers document every field activity.
• Each and everyone of our produce varieties are cleaned, free of plant disease and bearing proper health certification.
• Soil fertility conditions ensure essential plant nutrients for specific crop growth.
• Irrigation methods conserve water, use potable water as well as processed filter water, and stand up to water purity tests, thereby certified as infection-free and bacteria-free.
• Plant protection steps include a significant reduction of pesticide use. Similarly, we encourage the use of IPM (Integrated Pest Management). This entails the introduction of natural predators, as well as new preventive cultural and biological pest control methods. Finally, we also use legally certified materials meeting the MRL (Minimum Residue Level) criteria.
• Picking and harvesting techniques are hygienic, ensuring safety, quality and ripeness
• Post harvesting handling ensures appropriate packaging conditions. This includes cleanliness, worker hygiene and packaged product quality.
• All cartons/products are marked on day of packaging, and begin a tracking and traceability process.
• All agricultural waste  is recycled in an economically efficient manner.
• Growers bear social responsibility towards their workers, ensuring that all employees benefit from occupational and safety health standards stated by law.
• Environmental protection steps are taken in all crop fields and surrounding areas.