Vanilla Drying Station Description

Introduction

Address of our vanilla curing (drying) station: Wonosari st., Roban, Singkawang, 79112, Kalimantan Barat prov., Indonesia.

The station has been built in April of 2020, takes 100m2 (total land square – 1600m2), and can process 800kg of green beans per month.

Meantime our facility is not certified, but we have plans to do it and follow all recommendations and requirements of USDA Organic and HACCP:

We source raw materials (green vanilla beans) from inspected and selected farms (mostly on Seram island) that use organic practices in farming vanilla. For this we have on-field managers those check beans' quality before shipping, arrange shipping and payments to farmers.
In preparation for certification, at the end of 2020, we expanded and upgraded our drying station in accordance with USDA Organic those are similar to HACCP requirements such as:

Water supply must meet safe-drinking-water standards

For technical and sanitary needs, we use collected rainwater and for washing beans – local drinking water, packed in 5 gal bottles

Building exterior must be designed to be unattractive to rodents

Our drying station building is made of a lightweight steel profile covered with fiber-cement panels, placed on a solid concrete slab without hollows. It all makes the building unattractive to rodents and insects, cannot be used for nesting

walls placed on a solid concrete slab without hollows

The sunbathing area is fenced and faced with PVC roofing sheets on the bottom. This all prevents entering rodents and other bigger animals such as cats, dogs, chickens, and unauthorized visitors to the drying area and inside the building.

A building must be well sealed to prevent insects and rodents from entering

walls and ceiling are well sealed to prevent insects and rodents from entering

Ceiling, floor, and door design prevents insects and rodents from entering the building

Floors, walls, ceilings and work surfaces must be nonporous and easily cleanable

All surfaces such as walls and ceilings are painted with washable paint, floor, worktable, and all wet areas are covered with ceramic tiles that can be easily cleaned.

All rooms are equipped with UV lamps for disinfection and active ventilation.

A building must have a restroom and hand-washing facilities

Our drying station is equipped with a toilet/shower that allows workers to keep themselves clean without additional effort.

Also, as you could see above, the design of our drying station meets all other requirements, such as:

A building must be equipped with sinks to wash equipment
A building must be equipped with an adequate lightning
Lightbulbs must be covered to prevent broken glass from falling into food
The building must have adequate space to freeze or refrigerate items if needed
Equipment must be adequate for processing that will be done
A kitchen must be well ventilated to avoid condensation on the ceiling