ADVANTAGE, sourcing whole food brands
Posted - December 20, 2010
ADVANTAGE, sourcing whole food brands
By Adriana Michael
Passion and commitment are common traits shared by pioneers and leaders of the global organic and natural health movement. Jerry Zeifman, President of Canadian firm Advantage Health Matters, is an entrepreneur who exemplifies these qualities in his quest to promote health consciousness through the use of whole food supplement strategies and raw superfoods through a sustainable, eco-friendly business model.
A dynamic and leading Canadian importer and distributor of some of the most cutting-edge brands of organic supplements in the market, Jerry could be considered a
China’s market shows potential
Posted - April 1, 2009
China’s pretty face
By Adriana Michael - As printed in O.W.N. Winter 2009
When people think of China from a business perspective, probably the last thing to come to mind would be high-end, certified organic cosmetics, but Jasmin Skincare has broken the perception barrier. Run by Gordon Chalmers and Lihua Song, an Australian husband and wife team, the company has launched itself into the Chinese market with great success.
Jasmin Skincare opened its first retail counter in a high-end shopping centre in Guangzhou in October 2008, with plans for seven more points of sale next year.
“Significant sales have kicked off this year with our products now becoming available around China and at counters in the major department stores,” Chalmers said.
With the beauty and lifestyle industry booming in Asia, Jasmin Skincare is ready to tackle it head on, but theirs is not an overnight success. It took the company three years to go through China
Surya Brasil Introduces First Brazilian Organic Body Care Line for Men
Posted - December 8, 2008
Male Cosmetics with Essential Oils, Healthy Proteins and Mild Cleansing Agents
Surya Brasil, premier supplier of organic and natural cosmetics from Brazil, recently launched Sapien, an exciting new organic body care line for men, featuring the products at BioFach America Latina and Expo East.
Formulated for male skin and hair, the line features pure essential oils, gluten-free amaranth proteins and mild cleansing agents gentle enough for a man
Bring on the Lipstick!
Posted - November 6, 2008
Economic crises prompt up-turn in small, feel-good luxuries
Smart cosmetics firms stand to benefit from the world
Australian Organic Skincare
Posted - November 1, 2008
Jasmin Skincare:
Send your comments to: editorial@organicwellnessnews.com
Organic Cosmetics Standards
Posted - July 15, 2008
Varied Requirements, Little Regulation Bring US Lawsuit
Organic-branded cosmetics and personal care products are coming under legal question in the US. A lawsuit was recently launched by soap and cosmetics firm Dr. Bronner
Send your comments to: editorial@organicwellnessnews.com
Brazilian Cosmetics
Posted - May 1, 2008
Beyond Raw Ingredients
By Adriana Michael - as printed in O.W.N. Summer 2008
The bounty of Brazil’s rainforests provides many healing ingredients for everything from functional foods to jewellery. In the past, indigenous peoples have been often left out of related success stories. Raw ingredients are shipped off with no added value for the local economy.
Now the growing market for eco-friendly goods stimulates sustainable ways to preserve the forests and knowledge native experts have used for generations.
Brazilian cosmetics firms Florestas Organic Botanical, Surya Nature Inc., Reserva Folio and newcomer Mat
Send your comments to: editorial@organicwellnessnews.com
OASIS
Posted - May 1, 2008
OASIS: New US Cosmetics Standard
By Adrian Larose - as printed in O.W.N. Summer 2008
A new industry-based organic cosmetics standard is attracting attention, and criticism, with respect to the question of how to define what qualifies as an “organic” personal care product.
The clear, legislated organic standards that exist for food are rarely used to certify personal care products (including cosmetics). According to some in the organic industry, the food standards are inappropriate for such use.
The draft OASIS (Organic and Sustainable Industry Standards) private cosmetics standard for US personal care products is already backed by about 35 firms, including large conventional companies such as L’Oreal and many small American organics firms. The draft standard is available for comment on-line at www.oasisseal.org until June.
A phase-in period beginning with an 85% organic requirement - counting water, a major ingredient in most cosmetics - to end at 95% just 4 years later is part of the draft, with restrictions on allowed ingredients in the remaining 5%. That has some groups insisting OASIS present itself as a “made-with organic” standard, not simply “organic”.
“We want a tougher list of allowed ingredients,” says Ronnie Cummins, co-founder and national director with the grassroots US Organic Consumers Association. “Certain preservatives and hydrogenated and sulphonated cleansers the draft allows are of concern “, he says.
But some chemicals are obviously necessary in cosmetics, counters OASIS. “You have to use chemistry,” says group chairperson Gay Timmons, with American ingredients firm Oh, Oh Organic. “We felt that the only way you could really do that was to identify those chemical processes and those chemicals that are environmentally responsible.” The OASIS standard follows US Environmental Protection Agency guidelines on green chemical processes, notes Timmons.
The phase-in addresses hard-to-find organic ingredients such as surfactants. The group hopes OASIS participant purchases will support and increase organic production of these, allowing products to reach higher organic percentages over time.
The Organic Consumers Association insists the US National Organic Program food standards can be applied to personal care products. About a dozen companies currently have NOP certified organic personal care products, Cummins noted . Timmons advises that the number includes a few OASIS members , but the particularities of the NOP regulations do not work for all personal care categories.
A cease and desist letter has been sent to OASIS by the consumers association, asking the group not to make organic claims until its plans satisfy certain criteria. According to Timmons, such demands only undermine the standards-creation consensus process - she noted that the NOP food standard only developed after many diverse private standards were created.
“To suggest, or to demand as has occurred in this cease and desist letter, that this is something we shouldn’t do, I think it undermines the very process that has given us a fantastic law in the case of the NOP,” she says. “The federal government’s not going to regulate something so controversial that people are constantly screaming at each other.”
OASIS members are also participating in an on-going national process aimed at creating a USDA-regulated standard Timmons says, and in the meantime, OASIS makes sense. “How are you going to get 360 million people to agree? It takes a while.”
Send your comments to: editorial@organicwellnessnews.com
Shea
Posted - May 1, 2008
Shea Butter Organic Gem for Africa
By Henria Stephens - as printed in O.W.N. Summer 2008
Shea butter is booming. Better known as the tree of life or Karite, it is a unique tree that is changing the lives of smallholder farmers across Africa. What was once solely a product for local consumption now has a growing niche in the international organic cosmetic and sweets market, and helps to rehabilitate war-torn communities and empower rural women.
Scientifically classified as Vitellaria paradoxa, the shea tree is slow growing and fire resistant. It is found in over 16 countries across the dry savannah woodland belt of Africa. An estimated 5 million rural households across Africa depend on the nutritional and economic resources of the Shea butter tree.
What makes shea butter an organic gem is the tree itself.
Situated in woodlands and forest, the shea tree is often far removed from the fertilizers and pesticides that can compromise organic integrity. One of the greatest challenges facing producers is not the cultivation, but the processing, where producers are forced to refine Shea naturally - without solvents or synthetic chemicals. Several certifiers, including Ceres, IMO Switzerland and EcoCert, have standards for the certification of shea butter and shea nuts.
Shea trees only begin to produce fruit after 20 years, and only at 45 years does shea reach full production. This continues for more than 200 years after maturation.
The butter is derived from the shea nut, which is dried, stored and processed. The nut extract is used as food oil and in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and confectionaries. It can be used as a cocoa butter substitute.
KFP Uganda Managing Director Klaus Fehling , who works with East African shea trees mainly in Uganda and Sudan, explains the difference between East and West African shea butter : “Their (West African) butter is different in composition apparently because of a genetic watershed between East and West. East African shea butter has a higher oleic content and is softer,” he says. “It is suitable for cosmetics. Organic certification has helped (me) to introduce the product into the market. It will help to protect the Shea tree as a resource for the organic cosmetics industry.”
Processing the nut requires pulp removal after fermentation or boiling, oven- or sun-drying, and shelling. The nuts are then crushed, toasted, and finely ground. The mixture obtained is churned and strained until a white, buttery paste forms. Most of the work is done by women.
Female shea butter producers can now control their own income and better support their families. According to Mr. Fehling, “the shea trade is a unique opportunity to add substantial household income for the people of one of the poorest regions in Uganda. Women earning revenue from the sale of shea nuts afford to pay medical bills and school fees for their children.”
“The project provides additional services, including sensitization on tree conservation, provision of shea and fruit tree seedlings, best practices in organic farming and health awareness,” he adds.
In parts of war-ravaged Northern Uganda, the shea tree has been a rare resource for farmers returning to villages after displacement during continuing civil strife between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Ugandan government. Over 5,000 households now benefit from new producer cooperatives headed by rural women.
The popularity of shea butter is due in part to its high vitamin A and E content, amongst its other healing properties.
Some organic shea producers include; the Union des groupements de productrices de produits de karit
Send your comments to: editorial@organicwellnessnews.com
Yerba Mate
Posted - May 1, 2007
Yerba Mate Booming as Healthy Alternative
By Tatjana Schulz - as printed in O.W.N. Summer 2007
The latest trendsetting drink isn’t Latte Macchiato, not chai - not even Paris Hilton’s prosecco so handily presented in a can. No, it’s none of those: according to People magazine, the new
Send your comments to: editorial@organicwellnessnews.com
