One plant in the town that dries India’s onions.
Mahuva, on the south coast of Saurashtra, is where most of India’s onion dehydration happens: the white onion grown around it dries to the colour and flavour the trade wants. Maahir Foods runs a plant at Village Bhadrod on the Mahuva road, sourcing from farms it works with directly and exporting through Pipavav, 60 km away, and Mundra.
The management describes three decades of inherited dehydration experience and more than a decade of its own. The plant is BRCGS (GFSI-benchmarked), Kosher and Halal certified, as published; the table below is how we show that without pretending to have read the certificates.
Raw material · onion and garlicCertification, as published, for inspection.
| Scheme | Certified site | Scope | Expiry | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BRCGS Food SafetyGFSI-benchmarked scheme | On request; verify against certificate | On request; verify against certificate | On request; verify against certificate | Published by Maahir; certificate on request |
| Kosher | On request; verify against certificate | On request; verify against certificate | On request; verify against certificate | Published by Maahir; certificate on request |
| Halal | On request; verify against certificate | On request; verify against certificate | On request; verify against certificate | Published by Maahir; certificate on request |
Ask for the current certificates before the first order; a good supplier sends them the same day. Scope tells you which products and processes are covered. Expiry tells you whether the audit is current.
What Maahir says about the process, and the document to ask for.
| Claim, as published | Documentation |
|---|---|
| Pre-dehydration wash procedure to reduce pesticide residue and pathogens carried from the farm | Procedure and validation data on request |
| Controlled-air finishing at the final cleaning and processing stage | Process description on request |
| Zero added sulphites; chlorate-free process | Residue test reports per lot on request |
| Backward integration to farm; pesticide-controlled raw material | Farm programme documentation on request |
| FIFO post-production storage | Storage and traceability procedure on request |
| Three decades of inherited dehydration experience; over a decade of the current management's own | Company profile on request |
Neither a wash step nor dehydration is a validated microbial kill step on its own; whether a treatment step exists, and how it is validated, is on the specification.
The sequence a dehydrated-onion plant runs.
- 01ReceivingIncoming onions inspected against the raw-material specification.
- 02Sorting and precleaningRejects, soil and debris removed.
- 03Trimming and peelingTops, roots and outer skins removed.
- 04Washing and inspectionPrepared bulbs washed and inspected.
- 05SlicingBulbs sliced to the thickness the drying programme calls for.
- 06DehydrationMoisture removed under controlled temperature and airflow.
- 07Cooling and inspectionDried material cooled and inspected before finishing.
- 08MillingWhere the cut requires it: chopped, minced, granules, powder.
- 09SievingSize fractions separated to the published size range.
- 10PackingFinished product packed and labelled by lot.
Where the plant sits, in kilometres.
| Pipavav port (APM Terminals) | 60 km | Nearest container port. |
| Mundra port | 430 km | Largest private port in India; the other common loading point. |
| Bhavnagar | 100 km | District headquarters. |
| Ahmedabad airport | 300 km | Nearest international airport for buyer visits. |
Road distances from Village Bhadrod, approximate. Loading port is Maahir’s to confirm per shipment.
RS No 468P, Village BhadrodMahuva 364290Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, Indiaઆર.એસ. નં. 468પી, ગામ ભાદ્રોડ, મહુવા 364290, જિ. ભાવનગર, ગુજરાતAudit the plant yourself.
For a plant visit or a third-party audit, write to the office with dates. Ahmedabad is the nearest international airport, about 300 km by road; Bhavnagar has domestic flights.