Part 2: Choosing an Organic Standard

Part 2: Choosing an Organic Standard

How an organic cert. was made for personal care

Previously discussed was the USDA NOP’s organic standard and the inherent challenges in using it to certify organic personal care product. 

In this post we’ll discuss the creation of the NSF/ANSI 305 standard, which was established in 2009, and a little of how the market is responding to this certification.

What is the NSF/ANSI 305 standard?

The NSF/ANSI 305 standard was created in 2009 to fill the need for an appropriate organic personal care products standard. This standard is the only American national standard for the manufacturing and labeling of personal care products that contain organic ingredients and make organic claims (Oregon Tilth).

NSF International, the creators of this standard, are a highly reputable public health certification agency recognized by the FDA, EPA, and the USDA for their work in non-food compound product registration.  The American National Standard Institute (ANSI), a non-profit organization that assists in the development of U.S. voluntary national standards, assisted in the standard’s development and adoption.

    How ANSI/NSF 305 works

    Like the USDA NOP standard, the NSF/ANSI 305 standard places restrictions on the materials and ingredients used to formulate and manufacture products. The most beneficial element of the NSF/ANSI 305 standard is that it allows organic ingredients to be processed with manufacturing methods and with substances not authorized under the USDA organic certification. These allowed methods and substances have been examined by the NSF International Joint Committee on Organic Personal Care and approved for organic personal care use.  Check out Oregon Tilth’s NSF/ANSI 305 Fact Sheet here to learn more about the standard.

    A few of the standard’s requirements include:
    • At least 70% of your product must be made with USDA NOP approved organic ingredients
    • No GMO-derived ingredients in your product
    • No petrochemical based ingredients in your product unless they are approved by NSF International
    Labels you can use

    Certification under this standard allows personal care products to make a “contains organic ingredients” claim. Your product’s packaging can also feature the NSF International label alongside the certifying agent’s label, Oregon Tilth in our case, to assure customers the product has been evaluated and holds up to organic standards.

    ​​Wholefoods Recognizes the Importance of NSF/ANSI 305

    Wholefoods is a proponent of this new standard, and we are sure to see others.  Back in 2010, Joe Dickson, the Global Quality Standards Coordinator at Whole Foods Market and a member of the National Organic Standards Board, stated that Whole Foods Market will require any personal care product sold in their store making a “contains organic ingredients” claim to be certified through the NSF/ANSI 305 standard. Dickson explained the importance of Whole Foods Market’s decision in enforcing the NSF/ANSI 305 standard in this statement:
    “This will make it easier for shoppers to trust organic labels in our stores, and help the organic personal care products’ market evolve and grow” (Dickson)**.

    **The blog article was located at: (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/whole-story/huge-step-organic-body-care)

      Conclusion

      Two organic standards are available for your product, but only one of them was designed with personal care product in mind.  It’s important to understand the differences of these two standards since they impact how and when you can bring product to market.  Being an organically certified manufacturer for years, BPI Labs stands ready to help you organically certify your personal care product.

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      Part 1: Choosing an Organic Standard

      Part 1: Choosing an Organic Standard

      Organic certification can be tricky

      Choosing the right organic standard for your market and brand can be the difference between products that work and products that will never be manufactured.  BPI Labs has years of experience working with our certification agent, Oregon Tilth, in the development and certification of organic personal care products, and we can help you enter the organic market. If you don’t know who Oregon Tilth is or how products become certified organic, then read our article here.

      Entering the organic market successfully depends on what organic standard you’re aiming for.  In this article, you will read about the difference between the USDA’s NOP certification and the cosmetic industry’s NSF/ANSI-305 certification.  Then we will discuss the difficulty in achieving the NOP certification and why the NSF/ANSI 305 organic standard was created for the cosmetic industry.  Finally, we’ll tell you what we know about the market’s readiness to adopt the NSF/ANSI-305 standard.  Knowing these standards will help you set reasonable expectations for product development.

      The USDA organic standard, formed by the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP), is regulated with agricultural products in mind. According to the USDA NOP, personal care products are only eligible to be certified USDA organic and to use the USDA label on product packaging if the product is made of at least 95% food-based ingredients. So achieving USDA organic certification is a challenging task as the majority of personal care products cannot be made up of 95% food-based ingredients and still be an efficacious and user friendly product.

      One of the other great difficulties in producing efficacious personal care products is in the creation of preservatives that can keep your product within the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) guidelines for product contamination.  Organic matter is a natural breeding ground for all manner of microbiological cultures including some pathogens.  The FDA’s guidance on Title 21 of the CFR suggests that zero pathogens can be present and under 500 colony forming units (CFU) for products applied to the face and 1000 CFU’s for products applied to the body.  If microbiology is found in excess of those guidelines then the FDA considers your product adulterated and will take action to prosecute your company under federal law.

      If microbiology is found in excess of those guidelines then the fda considers your product adulterated and will take action to prosecute your company under federal law.

       

      The USDA’s focus is on the preservation and consumption of agricultural products, and their guidelines leave out many possible candidates for organic personal care ingredients and preservatives.  However, BPI Labs has found some suitable ingredients and preservatives that can be considered USDA NOP qualified. however, they are not guaranteed to work in many personal care products.  Consequently, formulation work for an organic product that satisfies the USDA’s NOP standards is difficult and usually prolonged.

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