Ethical Sourcing Assessments for Ingredients, Supplements and Foods

NaturPro has served an essential role in helping our clients source and evaluate ethically sourced ingredients. 

Our Ethical Sourcing Assessments include elements from many recognized programs such as Fairtrade(R), and uses one of the most comprehensive set of standards guiding the evaluation of the social and environmental impact of natural products and foods.

Ethical Sourcing Assessments are Key to Understanding Social, Environmental and Product Sustainability

The following outline covers subject matter covered in our evaluation protocol, which is derived from multiple sources, including the International Labour Organization Labour Principles of the United Nations Global Compact, the UN Forum on Sustainability Standards, Fairtrade,, WHO GAP, Global G.A.P., and NOP Organic.

General Guidelines for Ethical Sourcing: The Human Element

Product:

1. Contact information
2. Product name
3. Specifications, nomenclature
4. Sourcing origin
5. Land use and inputs
6. Harvest practices
7. Plant population care
8. Raw material processing and labeling

Relationships

1. Type and controls
2. Prices and wages
3. Non-discrimination
4. Reciprocity
5. Communications

Employment

1. Labor practices
2. Fair wages and prices
3. Child labor
4. Harrassment
5. Working conditions
6. Worker safety

Environment

1. Legal requirements
2. Policies and communications
3. Management responsibilities
4. Waste management
5. Emissions
6. Energy usage

Management and Supply Chain

1. Written policies
2. Training
3. Supplier management
4. Dealing with non-compliances
5. Audit program
6. Geographic risk
7. Community improvements

NaturPro fits our review protocol and minimum standards according to your practices currently in place, and we also evaluate according to the ‘stretch goal’ standards our clients are working to achieve, and set a clear path towards improved social and environmental impact.

Here are a couple examples of case studies we have performed for clients:

1. “Seed-to-Shelf Independent Audit” — A comprehensive, umbrella independent review of all quality and ethical procedures, relating to both farm-level and manufacturing practices.

We review all documentation, audit reports and other information, provide a list of opportunities to improve quality, identify gaps that minimize business, regulatory and product quality risk, help our clients meet the minimum level of regulatory compliance, and identify ‘best practices’ that are either already in place, or can be implemented. 


2. “Human Impact Audit” – A third-party independent review of the “human element” of an agricultural or wild-collected product, focusing in particular on staff training, farming practices and GAP, worker health and safety, and cultural preservation.   This includes a review of personnel SOP, safety, fair trade, farm practices, environmental impact estimates, ethical sourcing & organic practices.

The above 2 programs could be done separately or combined, and are typically performed in 2 phases: 

Phase 1: Document Audit
Phase 2: In-person/field Audits

3. Program marketing and communications – A comprehensive review paper that describes in detail all the elements of the program, references to the standards applied, and images or video footage. This comprehensive review can then be broken down into separate stories, that can become webpages, Youtube videos and social media posts that educate your audience.

Contact us for more information on NaturPro Scientific’s ingredient traceability and ethical sourcing programs.