How our produce is packed, at every point in the chain

Every pack, by who uses it

The same tier system, read from each counterparty’s side of the chain.

Inbound side. The supplier precools, pre-sorts and delivers to the warehouse, where our QC clerk grades the load. The handover moves produce — never the packaging asset.

Returnable crate

T-LOG

Structure

Food-grade washable plastic, ventilated, stackable and nestable; barcoded per crate.

Chain role

Farm to warehouse. Issued to qualified suppliers, returned each collection cycle.

Branding

Crate mark and label card only — a logistics identity, not consumer branding.

Ownership

Always Noza Foods property, tracked per crate against the inventory ledger.

Phase

The pilot ships on crates alone. No product dossier, no S-Mark needed.

Intake label card

T-LOG

Written

At goods-in, against the supplier and the QC grade — generated by the platform, never by hand.

Carries

Supplier or cooperative code, crate weight, batch identifier, QR.

Why

This is where the batch spine starts. Everything downstream inherits this identifier.

Tier 1 shelves, under our Service-Based Retail model: the stock stays ours until it sells, so the pack is our billboard, not the retailer’s. Grades A and B only — Grade C never reaches a retail shelf.

Banded open tray

T-RETAIL

Structure

Ventilated kraft tray, printed band across the middle.

Best for

Tomato class, mangoes — produce that sells on visibility.

Branding

Lockup, grade chip and QR on the band; bare kraft is part of the palette.

Phase

The lead retail format — first to print once the FDA dossier clears.

Ventilated punnet

T-RETAIL

Structure

Moulded-fibre punnet, side vents, narrow band at the base.

Best for

Chilli, passion fruit, berry-class small produce.

Branding

Lockup on the band chip, grade and QR alongside.

Handled basket

T-RETAIL

Structure

Kraft basket, fold-over carry handle, green rim stripe, punched vents.

Best for

Tree fruit and family sizes.

Branding

Lockup printed direct on the kraft face — this format carries a stripe, not a label panel.

Shelf-ready display

T-RETAIL

Structure

Corrugated display tray with green interior panels.

Chain role

Carries the packs onto the shelf in one move — no re-merchandising by store staff.

Why it matters

Under consignment the shelf is ours to win; the display is how a pack earns its place.

Carry box

T-RETAIL

Structure

Closed kraft box, gable handle, punched ventilation showing the produce.

Best for

Family and gift purchases.

Status

A format-expansion candidate — it ships only once retail sell-through data justifies it.

Tier 2 trade. Delivered to the kitchen door before 8 AM. Chefs buy the grade sheet, not the shelf appeal, so the branding stays minimal and the batch record does the work.

Bulk trade box

T-HORECA

Structure

Stackable open-top corrugated kraft, corner tabs, vent cutouts, green rim and front band.

Chain role

Restaurant and hotel delivery; crates instead where an account’s returns loop supports them.

Branding

Minimal — lockup band, grade, batch label. Liner only where the produce needs it.

Phase

Bulk whole produce needs no product-by-product FDA registration.

Mixed-produce box

T-HORECA

Structure

The same box, packed to a kitchen’s order rather than a single line — greens, beans and roots together.

Best for

A restaurant’s daily list, where one delivery covers a dozen ingredients.

Note

Contents of a package must be uniform in origin, variety and quality — so a mixed order ships as separated lines within the box, each traceable to its own batch.

Trade label

T-HORECA

Carries

The same batch spine at trade quantities — produce, grade, net weight, corridor, harvest date.

Why

It is the record a kitchen shows its own auditor, and the one we trace on a recall.

Stacked for delivery

T-HORECA

Filled below the rim

Every box is packed with headroom, so the corner posts carry the stack and nothing is pinched between layers. An overfilled box is a crushed box.

One line per box

Contents uniform in origin, variety and quality — the packing rule and the reason a batch stays traceable.

The promise

At the kitchen door before 8 AM — the reason a chef stops sending staff to the market.

Labels

Applied at dispatch, one per box, each carrying its own batch.

What every label must say

The field set is fixed by the produce grading standard, drawn from the East African labelling standards. It is generated from the batch record — never typed by hand — and printed in Kinyarwanda and English.

One batch spine, farm to shelf

The same identifier follows the produce through every split and repack, so a recall resolves to the crates actually affected rather than a whole day’s intake.

What we will not do

• No Grade C on a retail shelf. Grade C is a passing grade routed to its processing channel — it never gets a consumer retail pack.
• No claims we cannot prove. No loss-rate percentages, no “organic”, and no certification mark before it is actually issued.
• No platform name on a pack. Packaging carries Noza Foods; the platform name stays inside the product.
• No packaging that defeats the cold chain. Ventilation before aesthetics, always — a sealed pack undoes the precooling we asked the farmer to pay for.
• No internal identifiers in product copy. Ticket numbers and epic references belong in the spec, never on something a warehouse clerk or shopper reads.