Food Safety

At NZ Fresh Cuts Ltd (NZFC) our customers can be confident that all our products are as safe as they possibly can be. By keeping abreast of international best practice through our association with the International Sprout Growers Association (ISGA) and the International Fresh-Cut Produce Association (IFPA) our robust hygiene and food safety practices are truly world-class and are constantly being up-dated. In addition to having a registered Food Quality and Safety Programme that is audited annually by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority [NZFSA], we have developed our own Agricultural Standards based on the International Standards of EUREPGAP and our research and development team is constantly focused on improving our hygiene and quality control standards. To ensure the safest possible products we have an independently audited HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) food safety program and we are Vegfed approved growers.

Our model farm at Rangiriri was specifically set up to enable us to meet consistently high standards in food safety. We now grow 50% of our own baby leaf product on this farm using state-of-the-art food safety systems and have a dedicated food safety advisor specifically tasked with helping our contractors set up and implement similar systems with equal high standards. All our growers have to meet exacting Good Agricultural Practices [GAP] at each stage of growth and harvest, and these are regularly audited by external agencies such as AgriQuality and our own internal auditors. NZFC also has a registered New Zealand Fresh Produce Approved Supplier Programme [ASP] annually audited by AgriQuality. We also have a food safety consultant working with us fulltime who is specifically charged with enhancing our already strong HACCP Program and our Gap program for the farm.

All the sanitisers we use are universally recognised as safe and effective by the World Health Organisation [WHO]. All NZFC products are routinely tested by a recognised accredited laboratory for the presence of bacterium such as E.coli 157, Listeria and Salmonella and also for pesticides and maximum residue limits [MRLs]. We also operate one of only a few temperature controlled MAF approved seed stores in New Zealand, which enables us to purchase and store large volumes of seed. All our seed is quarantined on arrival and vigorously tested to ensure we only use uncontaminated seed.