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GUARANTEED ADVANCED - RAW MATERIALS EXPERTISE

GUARANTEED ADVANCED - RAW MATERIALS EXPERTISE

With over 95 years of experience in the ingredients industry, RAPS is the international expert for spice mixtures and functional food ingredients. Our comprehensive specialist expertise fulfils current market needs and individual customer requirements. RAPS represents the specific requirement for tailored quality and high levels of innovative power.

The basis for our valuable products is the quality of the raw materials we use, which number over 1,700. We are active in raw materials markets all over the world to procure them, and use our broad market knowledge and many years of experience in the process.

RAPS raw materials expertise: secured availability

RAPS does not only purchase raw materials via direct contacts in the countries of origin, but also makes use of local contract farming. In this way, we can always guarantee availability of raw materials for our customers.

Short transportation routes thanks to contract farming

An increasing proportion of our raw materials comes from our own farming or contract farming. In this way, we are looking to support domestic agriculture and shorten transportation routes at the same time. This is why, since as long ago as 1993, we have taken herbs and vegetables including marjoram, chives, other culinary herbs and onions from our contract farming in Germany. But we rely on contractually agreed cultivation with established partners outside of our homeland too, in order to grow the majority of our raw materials in line with our own requirements and thus meet our own quality standards.

In South America, for example, herbs and spices have been being farmed in line with RAPS guidelines for years. This is particularly important to us in the case of strategic raw materials, which provide flavour and function.

Purchasing on the world market

As a rule, RAPS is active on all the world’s markets when it comes to purchasing its spices. They primarily come from Asia (especially India), Europe and South America. The selection of suppliers abroad is made via personal auditing that takes place on-site. This ensures that the raw materials available there meet RAPS’ high standards.

We rely on expert partners whom we know and trust. Thanks to our many years of connection to the source countries, we now have an excellent network that allows us to make a broad spectrum of raw materials available to our customers. The forward-looking acquisition of price-sensitive, fluctuating raw materials such as pepper, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and cardamom is particularly beneficial. This allows us to offer our customers a variety of raw materials at competitive prices.

The highest quality thanks to unique technology

From RAPS, customers receive consistently high quality that meets market requirements. We achieve this through our strictly defined standards of quality for farming, harvesting and preparation .The latter benefits from the highly developed technologies available to us. In order to meet the needs of specific functionalities and flavour profiles, raw materials often have to be cleaned, prepared and processed. To this end, RAPS makes use of a wide variety of technologies to give the end products the desired purity and quality.

In addition, we maintain strict hygiene requirements that go beyond legally required standards and involve comprehensive inspections – from the raw spice to the finished product – guaranteeing transparent traceability of each individual batch. Strict adherence to laws regarding pesticides, pharmaceutical products and foods in this process is a matter of course for us. Further sensory, analytical and microbiological inspections of the raw materials and finished products by highly qualified employees ensure that to this day we provide end products that meet our own standards and those of our customers.

Raw materials expertise through sustainability

We understand sustainability as including responsible use of raw materials for business purposes and protection of natural resources. In the use of renewable raw materials in particular, not only the economic, but also the ecological and social effects have to be considered. Sustainability is a topic we have concerned ourselves with for a long time. For this reason, we have primarily relied on suppliers in Germany and the rest of Europe for over 25 years. This simultaneously allows us to shorten transportation routes and protect resources.

In addition, RAPS is a committed member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The aim of the RSPO is to promote the sustainable production of palm oil and damage to the rainforests. With this in mind, we only acquire palm oil, which is taken from the pulp of the fruit of oil palms and is an important basic ingredient for many of our products, from suppliers who are RSPO members.

We also have an eye on the future: RAPS consciously develops palm-oil-free alternative products, reducing the need for palm oils. This is an important task given the diminishing availability of the raw materials.

Certified quality and safety

Independent audits and certifications provide the proof: RAPS has comprehensive certification. You can rely on us. Due to our comprehensive expertise in procurement, manufacturing and processing of raw materials, we were the first spice company to be certified in line with DIN EN ISO 9001, as long ago as 1993. The certification establishes the minimum requirements to be implemented by companies in a quality management system in order to fulfil requirements in terms of product and service quality.

In addition, RAPS is in compliance with HACCP, which requires the recognition and avoidance of food purity risks. RAPS also has Bio-Label organic certification and international seals of quality as further evidence of our worldwide commitment. What’s more, we fulfil IFS food standards to a high level, meet the requirements of BRC Food (Level A) standards and are certified in the production of spices, extracts, marinades and sauces.

These measures, quality seals and certificates have one primary purpose: they provide our customers with what they expect – the highest standards of quality and safety.

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