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5-Star Food Safety Series: Star Two/Grower Shipper Facilities with a Markon Supplier

Gills Facility 2

Markon prides itself on requiring the most stringent food safety measures of our supplier-partners to provide the utmost confidence in every case we ship to our operator customers. Our Five-Star Food Safety Program covers the critical points from field to plate to ensure that Markon fresh produce arrives as promised.

This is the fourth in a 12-part weekly series where we break down the detailed steps Markon takes as well as meet some of the people involved in making it happen.

Let’s talk to a valued Markon supplier-partner about what Star Two: Grower Shipper Facilities means to them.

Star Two focuses on our grower/shipping facilities where Markon’s Quality Assurance reviews packed product and ensures our specifications are maintained, including third-party audit reviews for Good Manufacturing Practices and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points, water testing, and environmental monitoring.

Megan Jacobsen, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for long-time, valued supplier-partner Gills Onions explains how they work hand-in-hand with the Markon team to maintain our high standards in their production facilities.

“Gills Onions is committed to setting the standard in food safety. Our onions are the best in the industry, and they deserve to be the cleanest and safest in the industry too. That’s why our facility goes above and beyond to protect the integrity of these products through every step of processing and shipment. Every Gill’s onion goes through a HACCP-approved cleaning process with chlorinated water, metal detection, and strict temperature controls. Our in-house laboratory is fully equipped with expert staff that oversee and verify both product and equipment cleanliness. Our program is SQF certified, and we’ve also received verification from Primus, AIB, NSF Davis Fresh, Steritech, US Army, NSF, and NSF Quality Assurance International.

Our mission is to always be conscious of innovations and improvements we can make that help us be safer, work cleaner, and continue to provide quality products for future generations. So, the next time you open a bag of RSS value-added onions, remember that both the Gills Onions and Markon teams have your back. You can rest assured that you are welcoming the safest product into your kitchen. And they taste great too.”

Diners are increasingly hyper-focused on high-protein and plant-based foods. Alongside all of the new-fangled, lab-based, cell-cultured options out there is the humble bean. A staple food for millenia, beans are being re-examined as a healthy, versatile ingredient worthy of menu inclusion.

  • Retro and heirloom recipes—like Southern succotash, French cassoulet, and Cajun red beans and rice—fit the bill for those in search of authenticity.
  • Most world cuisines incorporate some type of bean in their classic dishes. Think feijoada in Brazil, black beans and rice with plantains in Puerto Rico, and garbanzo beans in Israel. Modern interpretations of these recipes are packed with produce and herbs.
  • The creamy texture of mung beans is proving an ideal substitute for those that are eliminating soy from their diets.