Produce Inspections, Certification and Audits

Quality Control Tailored for the Produce Industry

Fresh produce is a sensitive product category that requires fast shipping and proper storage. Any delay in your supply chain or a disruption in storage conditions can seriously impair your product’s quality.

Maintaining quality throughout harvesting, packing, cold storage and shipment is essential to protecting produce value and minimizing rejection risks in destination markets.

For a fresh produce supplier, it is equally important to check the condition of their inventory at departure from the farm or packaging facility and upon its arrival at the destination.

QIMA offers product inspections for your produce, helping you receive an accurate picture of your merchandise every step of the way. We will check the quality of your produce before it’s shipped, and will be at your destination to inspect it again after transit.

QIMA provides specialized inspections for:

• Berries: blueberries, blackberries, cherries

• Tropical fruits: mangos, pineapples, asparagus, kiwi

• Traditional fruits: apples, pears, avocados, grapes, lemon, orange, clementines

• Other fruits and vegetables: lettuce, tomatoes, chilies

• Beans, corn, nuts, grains, cereals

Produce Inspection Expertise

Internationally Recognized Inspection Protocols

QIMA produce inspectors follow detailed inspection protocols, prepared by our experts based on international regulations, standards of your destination market, and your own requirements. To ensure that every sample we collect objectively represents your shipment, we follow the guidelines and sampling plans prescribed by the World Health Organization Food Code (the Codex Alimentarius). Our inspections can support quality control across the full fresh produce workflow, from harvesting and packing through to dispatch, cold chain verification and destination arrival.

Comprehensive Produce Inspections

Before your produce is loaded onto the truck, our specialized inspectors conduct checks covering harvest quality, packing operations, finished product condition, quantity, packaging and labelling. Pre-shipment inspections can also include pallet positioning and temperature verification within export containers. As soon as your shipment arrives at the destination, our team will inspect your produce again to verify that quality and condition meet destination market requirements after transit. Inspection results and supporting photographs are made available through digital reporting tools to support rapid operational decision-making.

Real-Time Supply Chain Intelligence

All of our findings are recorded in detailed inspection reports, including photographic documentation, which are delivered to you on the day of the inspection, enabling you to make timely and informed decisions for your supply chain. You also receive access to detailed supplier and operational data via the QIMA dashboard, providing real-time visibility into harvesting, packing, shipment and destination activities across your produce supply chain. Cloud-based access and mobile-friendly reporting tools allow stakeholders to monitor inspections, quality trends and operational performance from anywhere in real time.

Produce Supplier Audits

QIMA supplier audits keep you up to date on the safety and compliance status of your produce suppliers, helping you identify areas in need of improvement and take corrective action.

Ethical Audits

Ethical audits investigate your suppliers for social compliance, including working conditions and worker rights, helping you eliminate any instances of labor abuse from your produce supply chain.

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Farm and Greenhouse Audits

Farm and greenhouse audits investigate areas of potential contamination during growing, including fertilizer usage, water usage and irrigation, pest control, harvest control, food security, the use of adjacent land, and employee safety & hygiene.

Harvest Crew Audits

Harvest crew audits address the working practices, safety and hygiene of employees directly involved in food harvesting, and food security issues.

Food Safety Audits

Food safety audits help ensure compliance throughout your food supply chain and improve your and your supplier’s quality management systems. QIMA offers hygiene audits (GHP), Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) audits for your fresh produce supply chain. Inspection programs may also include monitoring of client-defined critical control points during harvesting, packing and dispatch operations.

Certifications for the Fresh Produce Industry

QIMA, through our subsidiary QIMA/WQS, can audit your processes and systems against the requirements of applicable standards to achieve certification under the following schemes:

• HACCP (Hazard analysis and critical control points)

• UTZ and 4C certification (for coffee)

• GFSI approved certification schemes

  • PrimusGFS

  • SQF

  • GlobalG.A.P.

  • BRC Global Standards

  • IFS

QIMA Helps Monitor Every Step of the Produce Supply Chain

Grower

Certification, audits.

Exporter

Inspections (bulk and packed) at harvest reception, processing, packing and dispatch, including temperature control and export readiness verification.

Shipping

Inspections for shipping companies before/after shipment.

Importer

Inspections (bulk and packed) at arrival, re-packing, and dispatch supervision. Temperature control.