• De Keur, Ceres, South Africa, Fruit & Vegetable Exporters & Distributor

  • De Keur, Ceres, South Africa, Fruit & Vegetable Exporters & Distributor

Packing

In 2001, the De Keur Group purchased a fruit handling and packing facility on the outskirts of Ceres. Owning our own packing facility gave us the opportunity and control to pack our fruit, meeting the exact demands and needs of our customers. The facility is operational year round and provides work to about 150 permanent workers, while a further 200 is employed in high season.

Today De Keur Fruit Packing is a state-of-the-art facility, designed to grade, pack and handle fruit in the optimum way. The BA Complex, built in 2007, also gives us the opportunity to store about 13 000 bins over a longer time frame. Our focus is to pack the right quality fruit, in the best and most effective manner, following the cold chain regime which ensures the longest shelf life possible, in order to suit the needs of the consumer.

We also strongly believe in staying up to date with new innovations and technology in the fruit packing industry. Equipment is continually updated as new technology becomes available to increase efficiency and improve fruit handling. Multiple lines also give us the flexibility to pack differing varieties and package sizes simultaneously.

We are committed to supplying safe, quality assured, fresh and wholesome fruit that meet or exceeds our customer’s requirements and importantly comply with industry standards.

De Keur Group specifically grows the Cape Brown Onion – an onion known for its firmness, taste, golden brown colour, perfectly shaped bulb and uncracked, protective outer skin.

Our onions are pre-sized into the following 5 sizes:

  • Large (Diameter of 70mm+)
  • Medium (Large) (Diameter between 60mm-70mm)
  • Medium (Small) (Diameter between 50mm-60mm)
  • Small (Diameter between 35mm-50mm)
  • Pickle (Diameter of smaller than 35mm)

Our onions are packed into different packaging sizes i.e. sock, 1kg, 2kg, 3kg, 7kg and 10kg.  We pack the Cape Brown Onion as well as varieties of Red Onion.  We also peel onions for a specific market. The handling facility is fully operational from February to September, providing work to about 120 seasonal workers.

To ensure that the quality of our onions always meets the standard expected by our clients, we put about 30% of our bins into cold storage to pack between June and September. We also have a very strict sorting/grading regime to ensure our onions are graded into the correct classes. A permanent quality controller works tirelessly through every shift to ensure that the quality of our products is of the highest standard.

Our packing facility has evolved over the years to cater for all the needs of our customers, especially the Freshmark Group who is the main supplier of fresh produce to the Shoprite Checkers Group. Additionally we supply domestic markets in South Africa and recently, we have begun exporting into key African markets.

We strive to innovate and improve on packaging methods and material to give our consumer products that fill their expectation and much more!