Spotlight on: Meru Herbs Meru Herbs is a female-led organisation in rural Kenya and is dedicated to fair trade principles, with a clear mission to empower women, alleviate poverty and improve standards of living. This month, we spoke to Sally from Meru Herbs, who talked us through the many stages of fair trade sauce production. So, the next time you open a delicious jar or Meru Herbs sauce, you’ll know exactly how it got from rural Kenya to get to your kitchen table! Stage 1. Receiving: Each farmer carries their bags with the tomatoes to Meru Herbs Factory site. Stage 2. Grading: The produce is graded for quality check. Any foreign plant materials, leaves, roots etc. are removed. Stage 3. Weighing: After Grading the produce is weighed and then recorded in each farmer’s record book and the factory’s records book.
Stage 8. Peeling: Tomatoes are dipped in hot water to remove outer skin. The fruits/ tomatoes are peeled and the seeds are extracted, this waste is carried to the compost pit. Stage 9. Grading: The produce is graded to check to confirm quality for cooking. Stage 10. Weighing: In the recommended containers the produce is weighed and the information is recorded in a “production records book”. Sugar, lemon juice and other ingredients are weighed in this step and recorded in the same book. Stage 11. Cooking: After weighing fruits/ tomatoes are cut, squeezed and/or chopped to obtain the pulp ready to cook. The cooking is done in the cookers. Stage 12. First Check: The first check is done during the cooking with specific instruments. Parameters such as PH, brix and temperature are checked and recorded.
Stage 4. Storage: After recording of all the information regarding the tomatoes, the produce is stored. Stage 5. Sorting: When the production starts, the tomatoes undergo another quality check before approval for processing. Stage 6. Weighing: Selected tomatoes are weighed again.
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