Food Safety and Quality
Herman Cossio, Director of Food Safety, conducting a group training session.
Above. And Beyond.
Food safety is of the utmost importance at Ippolito International: from executive management to our harvesters, our employees take an active role in our food safety program.
Strengths
- Our core strength lies in the control we maintain over all aspects of our operation. We grow and harvest 80% of our Salinas production ourselves through Queen Victoria Farms and Coast King Packing, LLC, which are our own entities. We do have a core group of outside growers, who we strategically partner with, in order to assure our customers of consistent supply and quality. The vast majority of that acreage is harvested by our own crews.
- Having this direct control over the entire production cycle allows us to maintain the strict care and handling procedures we feel necessary to provide the highest quality products and service.
Certifications and Requirements
- All Ippolito operations (farming, packing and processing) are GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) certified.
- All Ippolito operations (farming, packing and processing) are compliant with the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act’s requirements.
- Both our farming and harvesting operations are compliant with California and Arizona Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement requirements.
Verification
- Our procedures are verified at three levels: internal, state, and third-party audits. The California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) in California and the Arizona Department of Agriculture (AZDA) in Arizona, as well as Primus Auditing Operations and NSF Davis Fresh conduct these third-party audits.
Our Approach
- Our highly-experienced food safety team works diligently each day in the field as well as in our other operations to ensure our products are fresh and safely–handled at all times. Our approach to food safety is to train and empower all of our employees so they have a vested interest in maintaining the program’s integrity thus creating a strong food safety culture. We go above and beyond what’s required by the state and federal government by conducting impromptu inspections and rigorous training for all of our field foreman and supervisors on an ongoing basis.
For more information on our Food Safety program, please contact Herman Cossio at herman.cossio@qvproduce.com.
