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About Us

The Schwartz brand established in 1889 by William Schwartz, the son of a German immigrant, in Halifax, Canada.

William E. Schwartz, the son of the founder, was the first person in Canada to sell pure spices. Formerly only compound spices were sold such as ginger mixed with cornmeal or flour. From these early beginnings great emphasis was placed on quality and William Schwartz convinced people it was better to buy pure, top quality spices in smaller quantities than poor quality bulk. From England he imported the first bicycle with pneumatic tyres and travelled throughout Nova Scotia selling his spices.

In 1984, the Schwartz Brand was bought by McCormick and Company, a global leader in flavour and one of the world's largest producer of herbs, spices, seasonings and flavourings.

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Quality first, quality throughout

A few highlights of our commitment to the highest standards of quality include:

• We have the largest quality investment in the spice and seasoning industry, and we are in an elite group of companies around the world to achieve a Safe Quality Food Level 3 Certified Supplier rating,

• We developed a clean, safe, efficient and natural steam pasteurisation process for herbs and spices, designed to preserve the ingredients’ quality and characteristics

• We conduct several million ingredient and product analyses each year.

Setting new standards

Not only do we meet quality metrics in each area that we operate, but McCormick continues to raise the bar in quality standards. For instance, we developed and use a proprietary microscopic detection method to ensure the purity of our products. We incorporate the latest analytical measuring equipment in our laboratories to insure chemical compliance and wholesome products. At the field level we have deployed a backward integration program for growing Indian chilies in order to balance quality requirements and farmers’ concerns, developing meticulous agricultural practices to consistently meet endproduct specifications. Our vendor traceability process and Laboratory Information System ensure full traceability and detailed analytic quality control from vendor lot to finished product.

A responsibility shared by all

At McCormick, quality isn’t the job of just one department or set of individuals: but rather quality is ingrained in the work culture of all of our employees. Here, quality is not just about testing at the end of the process—our proactive continuous improvement approach means that quality is built into each product right from the start and across the entire supply chain. Our executive-level Enterprise Risk Management committee has the following four focus areas, further underscoring quality’s importance to McCormick: brand protection, purity, quality and safety of our products. The team works to understand and mitigate any emerging risks that could potentially impact our product integrity.

A strategic, quality-oriented global sourcing approach

The McCormick Global Ingredients Limited procurement team sources spices and herbs from over 40 countries around the world. The sourcing organization has a combined total of more than 100 years of procurement experience in the spice trade; and we put that expertise to work every day to find the highest quality spices and herbs around the world. Through this team, we have established long-held strategic alliances with many of our suppliers and with selected farm communities.

We have intimate knowledge of local farm and market conditions everywhere we operate. As a part of our preventative strategy, we continue expanding our presence in source countries in order to bring our high quality standards as close to the product as possible. For instance, we have joint ventures in India concentrating on red pepper, and in Indonesia focusing on cinnamon, both with the goal of managing the raw material supply chain back to the source. We have developed key strategic alliances in other major spice-growing countries, contributing to a network of suppliers who help us build strong ties with farming communities and help them to continuously improve the quality and productivity of their crops.

Cultivating exceptional suppliers

McCormick has been committed to developing and maintaining a strong and healthy supplier base. This has allowed us to get closer to the raw material source. Through the close and local relationships, we are in a better position to improve the product quality at the farm level through education like helping the farmers understand that quick drying processes help avoid mould and teaching them how storing the product in a safe, dry place helps prevent potential issues later. With this type of education and McCormick’s ability to manage product integrity from source country to end product, farmers deliver a better and more consistent product which leads to steadier demand and better income.

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