The traceability of our products
All the producers who are members of the BCO Cooperative work exclusively for the garlic, onion, shallot and shallion range on the fresh market.
Definition of production batches
The cooperative’s agronomy department (Certiphyto Conseil certified) works with each member grower to choose the “variety/plot” pairing in November N-1 (based on soil and climate data and the grower’s priorities).
The form defining the batch numbers is drawn up.
Monitoring production batches in the field
The agronomy department monitors each grower’s batch (variety/plot pairing) from the time the crop is planted through to harvest and storage.
The crop advisors grade each batch before harvest to determine the batch’s potential (health quality, estimated volume, storage potential, etc).
Monitoring production batches in storage
Once the batch has been stored and identified, the quality department regularly monitors each batch and implements the pesticide residue control plan.
The quality department draws up a batch monitoring table listing the technical characteristics of each batch (MRL compliance, label compliance, dominant size, estimated volume, appearance rating, percentage of internal and external rot, glazing, germination rate, general health, odour, etc). On the basis of the criteria collected, batches are classified from 0 to 5 – a scale indicating the degree of urgency for marketing the batch (0 = quarantined for non-conformity, 5 = long-life batch).
The quality department monitors each batch at least once a month and updates the batch monitoring table accordingly.
Definition of supply planning
At the end of each week, the technical departments (agronomy, quality and production) meet to decide which batches will be committed according to the customer’s specifications, based on the sales requirements for the following week.
On average, the cooperative commits around ten different batches each week to meet demand.
Batch monitoring at the packaging station
Once the batch has been collected (1 lorry = 1 batch), the self-unloading tipper is physically connected to the packaging station’s reception.
From this point onwards, the batch is handled by the plant’s computer supervision system. All operations carried out on the batch are recorded in real time (flow, grading/sorting, storage, line feed, identification of CUs, pallets and sales administration documents).
Thanks to this IT supervision system, the cooperative is able to guarantee total and reliable traceability upwards and downwards.
Customer traceability
Using the batch number on the CU label and the delivery note linked to the invoice, the BCO Cooperative is able to trace the raw material, tracing the history of the batch back to the plot and vice versa.
