Manufacturing Hygeine

Craigmore Plantations (India) Private Limited, being a major exporter of teas to the European Union and also in view of supplying teas to customers who use our teas as raw materials for Pharmaceutical applications and also in view of both our factories being certified under ISO 22000:2005, has always ensured the highest standards of cleanliness and hygiene in its manufacturing processes and towards the same, has ensured the following compliances at both its Orthodox and Green tea factories.

• Both the factories have been provided an antibacterial Epoxy coated flooring that is of pharmaceutical standards.
• The fermenting area at Craigmore factory has flooring of vitrified tiles with water proofed epoxy sealants to prevent bacterial contamination in the fermenting process.
• The rolling room at Craigmore factory has a reinforced industrial strength concrete floor, with special hard topping to prevent any contamination by cement, sand or grit due to mechanical abrasion or wear and tear that may contaminate our teas.
• All wall & floor joints and all foundation beds of the machinery in the rolling room at Craigmore factory have been sealed with a special Polysulphide sealant to prevent any scope for bacterial contamination in the rolling process.
• All lights at Craigmore & Pascoe’s Woodland factory have been fitted with acrylic covers that are also sealed to prevent any chances of glass contamination in the case of a bulb/florescent tube breaking.
• All the windows in both factories are made of either acrylic sheets (at Craigmore Factory) or have a lamination on every glass pane (at Pascoe's Woodlands factory) to prevent any chances of glass contamination in our teas, in case of any breakages to glass panes.
• Transparent roofing sheets along with adequate windows have been installed at both factories, to ensure sufficient natural lighting entering our processing areas during most daytime manufacture. This reduces usage of electricity during day manufacture, thus reducing our carbon footprint and also saving electricity in our manufacturing process.

Our commitment to safety is exemplified by the installation of a sophisticated fire hydrant system at Craigmore factory surpassing common industry standards. This is complemented by documented and well-rehearsed fire evacuation plans, through well marked emergency exits and demarcated fire lanes in both factories.

The entire manufacturing area in both Craigmore and Pascoe’s Woodlands factories are bird and animal proofed to prevent any contamination by birds or other external sources.

Both factories and the Tea Warehouse at Craigmore factory have been provided with Rodent traps that have been positioned at predetermined and strategic Rodent Trap Stations that are demarcated, to prevent any contamination to our teas from Rodents entering our manufacturing facilities.

Adequate flying insect traps have been installed to trap any insects inside both the factories and to ensure there is no contamination from these sources to our teas.

All workers in our factory use face masks, gloves, head gear and shoes and specially provided uniforms during manufacture to maintain very high levels of hygiene. The factory workers are regularly trained in hygiene and food safety through especially organised and structured training programmes in the languages understood by them. There are effective systems for hand and foot wash provided in both factories prior to their entering the factory building.

Both the factories have been provided with a high security chain link fence to prevent any unauthorized entry into our factory premises and a documented procedure of Do's and Don’ts have been exhibited in both the factory offices which the visitors who are authorised to enter the factories are required read and understand, prior to signing a declaration and only after that enter the factory building. This is followed to ensure complete security against bioterrorism and contamination from outside sources.

There are documented Standard Operating Procedures to prevent glass, plastic, metal and any other form of contamination in our factories, so that, food safety is given top priority at all times. There is a documented policy on preventing Nicotine contamination which is brought to the notice of all workers working in the factories.

The latest SENVEC Color Sorter, made in Japan, used to clean our teas to the maximum extent possible have been procured for both our factories to further enhance the quality of our produce.

Dust extraction systems, (Roof mounted wind turbines and a suction based dust extractor) in the packing, sifting, drying and blending areas improve worker comfort and hygiene within Craigmore factory. Further, in both factories turbo wind ventilators have been provided in various sections to ensure effective air circulation for workers’ comfort, safety and food hygiene.

The sifting, cleaning and packing areas are fully conveyorized at Craigmore factory and each conveyor has been provided with a high powered magnets to remove any metal contamination that may occur. These magnets are tested for its efficiency every year by a third party and replaced in case magnets are found to have lost their capacity to effectively remove metal.

All teas are packed in food grade paper sacks or Poly propeleyene non woven sandwich bags from a specially designed hopper that is magnetized to remove any possible metal contamination even at the last stage of manufacture - Packing. This has ensured that our teas have less than 10% of the permissible metal content in teas as per FSSAI rules.

All bucket conveyors at the Craigmore factory are fitted with food grade buckets (non metal) to prevent any metal contamination.

All conveyors at the Craigmore factory are made of food grade rubberized material to prevent bacterial contamination and reduce spillage.

Detailed medical check-ups are conducted for all factory workers twice a year to regularly screen them for any infectious or occupational diseases. No worker with any infectious ailment is permitted to work at any of our factories.

First Aid trained personnel are available during each shift in the factories to ensure immediate first aid is available, in case of any minor injury before the patient is rushed to the Group Hospital or Dispensary, in the 24 hour Ambulance services available for this purpose on the Group. All First Aid trained personnel are required to be re-certified every year to keep them up to date to deal with such emergencies.

Detailed and documented cleaning and washing procedures are followed at both factories on a daily basis to ensure complete cleanliness and hygiene of all machinery and floors of processing areas.