Production Facilities
Capilano Honey has two factories located at Richlands (Queensland) and Maryborough (Victoria) comprising the world's best practice in honey packing, hygiene, waste management, warehousing and distribution functions.
Both of these facilities are controlled and adhere to strict quality assurance standards. Careful attention is paid to Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) principles, which is a quality assurance program that meets the most stringent International Food Industry requirements. In August 2001, Capilano Honey received HACCP accreditation. Adhering to these programs guarantee that our customers enjoy only the best of the best, packaged under hygienic food safe conditions and we receive only 100% natural honey straight from our beekeepers.
This quality focus is not only at factory level, in fact, it largely begins with our beekeepers, who themselves follow HACCP principles in their facilities including extracting equipment, cleanliness of honey contact surfaces and using poly drums for honey transportation.
In addition to a comprehensive HACCP quality system, Capilano has implemented a state of the art laboratory, SciTest to ensure best practice analytical expertise in the testing of honey for microbial and chemical residues. Testing equipment such as the LC/MS/MS Triple Quad Instrumentation have been employed to ensure sensitive and accurate confirmation of contaminants. SciTest works closely with Government, Regulatory Bodies and Commercial Laboratories to ensure the accuracy of analytical methods, which enables us to provide unparalleled quality assurances to our customers. Capilano’s SciTest laboratory and testing methods comply with the ISO17025 NATA independent accreditation. SciTest is the only specialised Honey Laboratory of its kind in Australasia.
Capilano’s Richlands factory also comprises a PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) production facility where we produce PET packs in-house with injection blow moulding machines.
The major benefits and features of PET are:
- Consumer safety
- No interaction between the product and packaging i.e. the PET is safe for use with honey
- Suitability for storage and safe usage
- Environmentally friendly (in production of the packaging)
- Recyclability of the packaging after use
PET used by Capilano has been guaranteed to be safe for food contact by International Food Standards and does not contain free pthathales that can be found in other plastics. This means that the plastic contained in this particular PET resin will not interact with the honey.
The decision to move to PET containers was difficult, however with so many food manufacturers in recent time receiving production scares from glass contamination in their products, this move was seen as necessary for consumer safety.
