You've probably realized by now we are not conformists when it comes to anything. Being pioneers in the organic skin care industry plus owning an organic honeybee farm that has raised many a crop of wild crafted botanicals, we know more than a little about organic certification. In fact, we were involved in the movement for skin care companies to ‘come clean’. So having been in the industry for so long as producers of some of the best and purest products around as well as advocates at the national level for truth in labelling, why don’t our products bear an organic certification label? This is a legitimate question which presents a great opportunity for us to educate people on this process and why, more importantly, we have opted out.

USDA Organic Certification of Cosmetics

The NOP (National Organic Program) is the federal regulatory branch of the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) governing organic food production . The NOP regulates all aspects of production including processing, delivery and retail sales. When consumers first started to push for clarity on the term ‘organic’ in the personal care industry they turned to the only branch of the government involved in organic production of any sort, the NOP. However, the NOP cannot regulate personal care products because they regulate agricultural products for human consumption only. So, for lack of any better agency, the NOP agreed to issue guidelines for personal care product containing agricultural ingredients (crops for human consumption) and if these products meet the USDA/NOP standards for these ingredients only, they may be eligible to be certified organic under the NOP regulations. So in short, skin care companies that formulate mainly with agricultural ingredients that can be regulated can get a certification label.

The Problem:

The USDA has jurisdiction over farm-raised agricultural products for human consumption . So, producers like us who incorporate a whole range of plant based nonagricultural raw materials like essential oils and other botanicals can’t be given full credit for the percentage of truly organic materials our products contain. That means for us, a USDA seal won’t work.

There’s a wide number of other organic certification organizations worldwide that sprung up in response to the quest for clarity on the term ‘organic’ in the personal care industry. These are for profit companies we could go to get a ‘seal’ of some sort to put on our products. Yet for consumers and retailers there’s no telling what these seals actually mean because every business that offers a seal has a different set of standards and requirements and a close look often reveals they do not guarantee a product contains all organic ingredients at all. For example, the IOS (Cosmetics Standard established by Certech, a private company in Canada) requires all food ingredients be organic, the rest don’t have to be, and they ask companies to follow eco-friendly guidelines while the BDIH (Association of German Industrial & Trade Firms; Bundesverband Deutscher Industrie und Handelsunternehmen) certification association requires natural, not synthetic raw materials. Does that look like a guarantee that the product you just bought is all organic?

As you can see, organic seals don’t necessarily mean what you think they do when you’re looking for skin care that has been ethically crafted, processed and produced as well as made from raw materials that are not only harmless but raised in a natural environment free from pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and chemical solvents. That’s how we define organic. That’s how we define Meadowlake Farm.

Society of Cosmetic Chemists

American Botanical Council

United Plant Savers

Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Certified Naturally Grown

Cruelty Free Companies