Products & specifications
Chamomile and hibiscus, parameter by parameter.
Identity, grades, moisture, water activity, ash, microbiology, contaminants, packing and shelf life — with the test method named for every line, so your QA department can check our numbers against its own rather than take a word for them.
■ HOW TO READ THESE TABLES
These are target specifications: the limits the line is being built to meet, each with the method that verifies it. They are not results from shipped material, and they are not an offer. Every figure is sourced — Ph. Eur. monograph, ESA Quality Minima or EU regulation — and where a target is harder to hold than the source requires, the table says so. Where your own specification differs, send it: you will get a written answer line by line.
01 · Chamomile
Egyptian chamomile flowers
Matricaria chamomilla L. — dried flower heads. A winter crop, picked over several passes from December through April, main flush January to March.
| Identity & origin | Target specification |
|---|---|
| Botanical name | Matricaria chamomilla L. |
| Plant part | Dried flower heads (flos) |
| Origin | Fayoum & Middle Egypt, Arab Republic of Egypt |
| Harvest season | December – April, main flush January – March (multiple pickings); crop year stated per lot |
| Grades planned | Grade A — whole flower heads (pharma / premium tea) · TBC / tea-bag cut 1–4 mm · fannings & powder among the intended grades |
| Physical & chemical | Target specification | Test method |
|---|---|---|
| Appearance & colour | Whole yellow-white flower heads, characteristic aroma; free of visible mould | Organoleptic |
| Volatile (essential) oil | Target ≥ 4.0 mL/kg (Ph. Eur. minimum for Matricariae flos), whole-flower grade; actual value to be stated per lot. Chamazulene forms during distillation and is not a property of the dried flower. | Ph. Eur. 2.8.12 (steam distillation) |
| Moisture (loss on drying) | ≤ 10 % | Ph. Eur. 2.2.32 / 105 °C |
| Water activity (aw) | ≤ 0.65 | aw meter, 25 °C |
| Total ash | ≤ 13 % | Ph. Eur. 2.4.16 |
| Stems & broken parts (Grade A) | ≤ 5 % w/w | Visual sieving analysis |
| Extraneous organic matter | ≤ 1 % w/w | ASTA / ESA method |
| Foreign inorganic matter (stones, soil) | ≤ 0.5 % w/w; no particles > 2 mm | Visual / de-stoner verified |
| Microbiological | Limit | Test method |
|---|---|---|
| Total Plate Count | ≤ 1 × 10⁵ cfu/g | ISO 4833-1 |
| Salmonella spp. | Absent in 25 g | ISO 6579-1 |
| E. coli | ≤ 1 × 10² cfu/g | ISO 16649-2 |
| Yeasts & moulds | ≤ 1 × 10⁵ cfu/g | ISO 21527-2 |
| These values are the European market requirement (ESA Quality Minima) and represent our target. Field-dried herbs frequently carry a Total Plate Count above this limit before treatment, and meeting it reliably requires a validated microbial-reduction step — which our planned first-phase line does not include. Until that step is in place, each lot would be released on its own certificate of analysis with the actual measured value stated. We do not claim these limits as a guaranteed delivered specification. | ||
| Contaminants, packing & shelf life | Target specification |
|---|---|
| Aflatoxins | Target: B1 ≤ 2 µg/kg; total (B1+B2+G1+G2) ≤ 4 µg/kg |
| Ochratoxin A, pyrrolizidine alkaloids, heavy metals | Target: within the limits of Regulation (EU) 2023/915; to be evidenced per lot by accredited third-party analysis |
| Pesticide residues | Target: within EU MRLs under Regulation (EC) 396/2005; to be evidenced per lot by an ISO/IEC 17025 residue panel |
| Treatment declarations (intended) | The first-phase line has no sterilisation step — no irradiation, no ethylene oxide. Steam sterilisation is planned for a later phase and is not in current scope. Non-GMO and free from added colours, flavours and preservatives are intended declarations. |
| Packing | Multi-wall kraft paper bags with food-grade PE liner, 10 / 12.5 / 20 kg net; compressed cartons for whole-flower grade among the intended options; heat-treated ISPM-15 pallets. Private packing to buyer specification is intended once the line runs. |
| Storage | Cool and dry, below 20 °C and 60 % RH, away from direct light and strong odours, off the floor on pallets |
| Shelf life (target) | 24 months from production date under the stated conditions |
| These are target limits, not results. No material has been produced or tested, and no laboratory has been appointed. We do not claim conformity with EU contaminant or MRL legislation for any lot at this date. Aflatoxin control in particular depends on grower drying practice and on a screening step that is not in first-phase scope. | |
02 · Hibiscus
Egyptian hibiscus calyces · karkade
Hibiscus sabdariffa L. — dried calyces from the Aswan / Qena belt of Upper Egypt, to be packed in Fayoum.
| Identity & origin | Target specification |
|---|---|
| Botanical name | Hibiscus sabdariffa L. |
| Plant part | Dried calyces |
| Origin | Upper Egypt (Aswan / Qena belt); to be packed in Fayoum, Egypt |
| Harvest season | October – December; crop year stated per lot |
| Grades planned | Whole dark-red calyces · sifted cuts 3–20 mm · fine cut / tea-bag cut 1–3 mm |
| Physical & chemical | Target specification | Test method |
|---|---|---|
| Appearance & colour | Deep red to dark-red calyces, characteristic sour taste; bright red infusion | Organoleptic |
| Volatile (essential) oil | Not specified for this crop | — |
| Moisture (loss on drying) | ≤ 12 % | 105 °C oven method |
| Water activity (aw) | ≤ 0.65 | aw meter, 25 °C |
| Total ash | ≤ 10 % | Ph. Eur. 2.4.16 |
| Acid-insoluble ash | ≤ 1.5 % | Ph. Eur. 2.4.16 |
| Broken calyces (whole grade) | ≤ 10 % w/w | Visual sieving analysis |
| Extraneous organic matter | ≤ 1 % w/w | ASTA / ESA method |
| Foreign inorganic matter (sand, stones) | ≤ 0.5 % w/w; no particles > 2 mm | Visual / de-stoner verified |
| Microbiological | Limit | Test method |
|---|---|---|
| Total Plate Count | ≤ 1 × 10⁵ cfu/g | ISO 4833-1 |
| Salmonella spp. | Absent in 25 g | ISO 6579-1 |
| E. coli | ≤ 1 × 10² cfu/g | ISO 16649-2 |
| Yeasts & moulds | ≤ 1 × 10⁵ cfu/g | ISO 21527-2 |
| These values are the European market requirement (ESA Quality Minima) and represent our target. Field-dried herbs frequently carry a Total Plate Count above this limit before treatment, and meeting it reliably requires a validated microbial-reduction step — which our planned first-phase line does not include. Until that step is in place, each lot would be released on its own certificate of analysis with the actual measured value stated. We do not claim these limits as a guaranteed delivered specification. | ||
| Contaminants, packing & shelf life | Target specification |
|---|---|
| Aflatoxins | Target: B1 ≤ 2 µg/kg; total (B1+B2+G1+G2) ≤ 4 µg/kg |
| Ochratoxin A, pyrrolizidine alkaloids, heavy metals | Target: within the limits of Regulation (EU) 2023/915; to be evidenced per lot by accredited third-party analysis |
| Pesticide residues | Target: within EU MRLs under Regulation (EC) 396/2005; to be evidenced per lot by an ISO/IEC 17025 residue panel |
| Treatment declarations (intended) | The first-phase line has no sterilisation step — no irradiation, no ethylene oxide. Steam sterilisation is planned for a later phase and is not in current scope. Non-GMO and free from added colours, flavours and preservatives are intended declarations. |
| Packing | PP woven bags with food-grade PE liner, 20 / 25 kg net, on heat-treated ISPM-15 pallets. Private packing to buyer specification is intended once the line runs. |
| Storage | Cool and dry, below 20 °C and 60 % RH, away from direct light and strong odours, off the floor on pallets |
| Shelf life (target) | 24 months from production date under the stated conditions |
| These are target limits, not results. No material has been produced or tested, and no laboratory has been appointed. We do not claim conformity with EU contaminant or MRL legislation for any lot at this date. Aflatoxin control in particular depends on grower drying practice and on a screening step that is not in first-phase scope. | |
Working with us
Your specification, not ours.
Send the specification you have to meet — parameters, limits and the test methods behind them. We will tell you in writing which lines we can meet, which we cannot, and which need a trial. Where a parameter is outside what the crop or our intended process can deliver, we will say so.