What are natural Products?
NATURAL INGREDIENT CRITERIA
Natural Ingredients include plant, animal, mineral or microbial ingredients...
- present in or produced by nature.
- produced using minimal physical processing.*
- directly extracted using simple methods, simple chemical reactions or resulting from naturally occurring biological processes.
Natural ingredients are...
- grown, harvested, raised and processed in an ecological manner.
- not produced synthetically.
- free of all petrochemicals.
- not extracted or processed using petrochemicals.
- not extracted or processed using anything other than natural ingredients as solvents.
- not exposed to irradiation.
- not genetically engineered & do not contain GMOs (genetically modified organisms).
- Natural ingredients do...
- not contain synthetic ingredients.**
- not contain artificial ingredients including colors or flavoring.
- not contain synthetic chemical preservatives.
NATURAL PRODUCT LABELING GUIDELINES
The NIRC Guidelines mirror those established by the USDA for organic food, and are inspired in part by the hard work of the organizations working to establish similar labeling guidelines for the term "organic" for cosmetics. Please visit the NIRC Resources web pages for links and contact information for those groups.
100% Natural/All Natural
The NIRC guidelines are that products labeled as “100 percent Natural” or “All Natural” can only contain ingredients that fit the NIRC criteria for natural ingredients.
Natural
The NIRC guidelines are that in order for products to be labeled as "Natural," 95% of the ingredients must fit the NIRC criteria for natural ingredients. The remaining 5% may come from ingredients that do not meet the NIRC Criteria for natural, and which DO NOT include synthetic fragrances, artificial colors or ingredients from petrochemicals. The toxicity of each ingredient must be minimal. All percentages are based upon weight.
Made with Natural Ingredients/Made from Natural Ingredients
Products labeled as "Made with/from Natural Ingredients" must contain at least 70% natural ingredients that meet the NIRC Criteria. The remaining 30% may come from ingredients that do not meet the NIRC Criteria for natural, however, products that include synthetic fragrances, artificial colors or ingredients from petrochemicals MAY NOT display the NIRC "Seal". All percentages are based upon weight.
"True Soap" Exception...Natural Soap
The NIRC has made an exception for "True Soap" that fits the following criteria;
"True Soap" may be labeled as "natural soap" ONLY if the ingredients that go into the soap are lye plus 100% natural ingredients, according to the NIRC Criteria for natural ingredients.
"True Soap" may be labeled as "natural soap" ONLY if all of the ingredients are listed. We require that "True Soap", labeled as "natural soap", have ingredient labeling in order to help prevent the misuse of the "natural soap" label.
Soap labeled as "natural soap" may not contain the addition of any synthetic or artificial ingredients including but not limited to artificial colors, synthetic fragrances, man-made vitamins, solvent extracted oils or additional glycerin.
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