Extraordinary Health 25 | Page 57

What CLEAN Means for Our Organic Peas and Organic Sprouted Brown Rice When we needed to create a secure supply chain for organic pea protein, NON GMO VER we started by tracing back to the Project I FI E D farm and the seed; utilizing certified organic farms that use organic, non- no ngmoproject.org GMO seeds was mandatory. We discovered that only organic North American peas met our quality must go through an extremely rigorous audit process that includes DNA testing and other systems to monitor the drift of genetically modified seed crops globally. Did you know? Certified organic products cannot intentionally contain GMO ingredients. However, current NOP standards don’t address inadvertent contamination by GMOs—for example, the drift of GM seed crops into organic fields. The best way to know your products are both Organic and Non-GMO is to look for products that are Dual Certified, meaning both Certified USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified. standards. Garden of Life was determined to build and develop our supply chain with key organic farmers and organic farming co-operatives located here in North America, so we invested heavily to build this organic pea protein program. By December of 2014, we built up our supply chain for Organic North American peas to launch our first products (Organic Plant Protein, or OPP) containing organic pea protein. In 2014, we committed to reducing heavy metals in all of our rice At Garden of Life, we make our CLEAN products in clean facilities that use only Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs). These facilities are audited by the FDA and certified by third-party auditors such as NSF, organic certifiers, gluten certifiers and Kosher certifiers. We package our CLEAN products thoughtfully, using recycled and recyclable materials, with labels printed in vegetable inks that don’t add toxins to the environment. protein products, which also meant improving organic sprouted brown Protein products are commonly used in competitive athletics, s o we take our standard for clean one step further. All of Garden of Life’s protein formulas and manufacturers are audited and approved, and then every lot is tested by industry-leading HFL Sport Science Laboratories. Every protein we sell is Informed-Choice Certified for Sport. We’ve now converted all of our organic rice protein products to this Finally, all of our clean proteins are certified Gluten-Free by NSF certified vegan by Vegan Action and certified Kosher Pareve. rice protein sourcing as well as its processing. We tested multiple sources and suppliers, looking at hundreds of lots of material in both the U.S. and other countries, and found the “best” quality rice was primarily sourced from undeveloped regions in Southeast Asia. new, super clean Certifid Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified sprouted brown rice protein. Did you know? Rice, by its nature, chelates minerals and other substances, adding to its nutritional value. For example, rice is Here’s the bottom line: All of the independent third- extremely high in magnesium. But due to its chelating properties, party on-site audits and verification systems we engage when making our products create for us a truly traceable protein— which is why we can say our products are truly clean. rice (more so than other types of crops) also tends to naturally absorb more of the other substances in soil and water. Peas, on the other hand, are far less prone to chelate these same substances. That’s why it’s so important to know where your rice comes from!