Select, GAQ, FAQ or Industrial? A Buyer’s Guide to Pitted Aseel Grades

Every serious pitted-date supplier grades their output, but the labels only help if you know what they promise. Here is how the four standard grades of pitted Aseel break down — and how to match them to your application instead of overpaying for cosmetics your process will destroy anyway.

The four grades at a glance

The rule of thumb

Buy the lowest grade your customer will ever see. If the date sits whole in a clear retail tray — Select, no debate. If it disappears into a mixer, an extruder or a grinder, paying Select money is a donation to your supplier. An energy-bar plant running Select instead of FAQ can be leaving five figures per container on the table for zero difference in the finished bar.

What stays constant across grades

At a proper house, grade describes appearance, not safety. All four of our grades go through identical washing, pitting, moisture control (14–18%) and 100% metal detection, and ship with the same certificates: Sedex, FDA registration, Halal, FSSC 22000. The Industrial carton gets the same food-safety treatment as the Select carton — it just isn’t pretty.

Three questions to ask any supplier

• What exactly counts as a defect in your grading? Broken pieces, loose skins, discoloration — get the definition in writing on the spec sheet.
• Is metal detection universal or grade-dependent? The only acceptable answer is universal.
• Can I get a graded sample set? A serious exporter will ship you all four grades side by side. We do.

Unsure which grade fits your line? Describe the application in our quote form — we will recommend honestly, even when the honest answer is the cheaper grade.