Pardes Dhydration Company

Pardes Dehydration Company is an export-oriented agro-processing manufacturer of dehydrated vegetables and Indian-origin spices, based on the Gondal National Highway by-pass in Gondal, District Rajkot, Gujarat, India, within the jurisdiction of the Rajkot Agri Export Zone. Family owned and established in 1983, the business has been run since inception by managing director Mr. Hitendra P. Parekh. It is recognized by the Government of India as a 100% export oriented unit, and describes itself as the first and only plant in India with the latest fully automatic technology engaged in the manufacture of dehydrated vegetables, particularly dehydrated onion and dehydrated garlic. The core product range is dehydrated onion and dehydrated garlic in commercial volumes, supported by dehydrated cabbage, dehydrated cauliflower, dehydrated potato chips or slices, and dehydrated green bell pepper. Alongside the dehydrated vegetable line, the company exports Indian-origin spices including chilli powder, crushed chilli, cumin seeds and coriander seeds. Products are supplied both as ingredients to industrial food manufacturers and into institutional channels; in the domestic Indian market they are sold to many major companies including the Indian defence services. Processing capability is built around imported European equipment. The plant is a latest-generation, fully automatic installation from Buhler of Germany, with Buhler supplying and installing machinery together with know-how, flow design and erection, and Sortex of the UK commissioning automatic cleaning and optical sorting for the dehydrated onion and garlic lines. The facility occupies roughly five hectares of company-owned delivery, production and storage stations equipped with modern technology for selection, production and packaging. Around 250 people are employed in total, of whom about 80 work directly in production. Quality assurance and food safety are central to the offer. The company holds HACCP certification, ISO 9001 quality management certification, and Kosher Pareve certification under the U.S. Orthodox Union. Its stated food-safety policy covers controlled procurement of raw material, monitoring of process parameters, appropriate plant sanitation and personal hygiene, and compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, with the goal of matching international food standards. Export strategy is described as customer focused and grounded in Good Agricultural Practices. Vertical control of the supply chain is a differentiator: the operation manages the entire sourcing process from seed development through to customer delivery. Raw materials such as onion and garlic are procured from the marketing yards of Gondal, Rajkot, Mahuva and Bhavnagar as well as directly from farmers located within a 200 kilometre radius of the plant, which supports consistency of variety, freshness at intake and traceability. Geographic reach is broad. Dehydrated onion, dehydrated garlic and other dehydrated vegetables are currently exported to more than 40 countries, with established market presence in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Australia, Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Latvia, Russia and Eastern Europe, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Israel, South Africa, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand. Reported exports were 5,000 metric tonnes in a single financial year, and the company has received an Export Appreciation award for its performance.