Healthiest vitamin I ever seen and excellent customer service, read my emails and their responses
I've never seen a USDA organic and labeled Non-GMO on the same vitamin product. I rate it a 5 out of 5 due to the customer service I will provide below, and how this vitamin seems like the healthiest considering it's certified organic and Non-Gmo. Who know if this makes a difference in health, but it feels better for the peace of mind and you get a decent dosage for the amount you pay. The DV per pill also seems decent, so you may be able to get away with taking only 1 or 2 pills instead of the total 3 pills.<br /><br />Customer service inquires below:<br />My Questions EMAIL #1:<br />Please answer the following questions In regards to your Country Life Realfood Organics Men's Daily Nutrition:<br />1. What country did the ingredients and food/plants in your product come from?<br />2. Is each bottle (not random testing) of the supplements proven to be free of pesticides/heavy metals and lead? Where is the scientific proof to back that information up & who tests?<br />3. Has anyone done clinical trials on this supplement, if so who is doing the clinical studies on this product?<br />4. Have results from studies of this product been published in trusted medical journals, or are available to vie?<br />5. Do you manufacture all of these vitamins on your premises, or are some or all contracted out to another manufacturer? If you contract out your manufacturing did the manufacturer initially modify or upgrade its facility in order to meet detailed manufacturing process specifications you presented?<br />6. Do you regularly audit your contract manufacturer?<br />7. Do regulatory bodies audit your facility or your contract manufacturer’s facility? Who are they?<br />8. What is the name of your contract manufacturer and what is their website address?<br />9. Please explain your blending procedures and explain blending equipment you use, make and model will also be helpful. Please describe the blending procedures for (name of product). Are all the ingredients simply put together and fed into a blender?<br />10. Is the final blend mix put through a granulator before tableting? If yes how many hours pass between final blending and granulation?<br />11. How long does blending take?<br />12. What is the weight (in kg) of one mix batch?<br />13. Has your product been tested both in-house and independently to verify your disintegration rate claims?<br />14. What tests are performed during the manufacturing process to make sure this is no bacteria, mould and yeast, coliforms, E-coli and Salmonella, that the potency is correct, heavy metal presence, to ensure that thickness, weight and hardness are within specifications, and dissolution and disintegration of this product?<br />15. Can you email me a copy of your COA, or provide me with the name of the company who did this testing?<br />16. Does this product meet USP/or British Pharmacopeia standards? If so, please provide the laboratory that verified this.<br />17. Are you in full compliance with US FDA cGMP (Current Good manufacturing Practises), do you manufacturer with a pharmaceutical grade processing facility, if so please explain what steps you take to have a pharmaceutical grade processing facility.<br />18. Do you have a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification? 19 Do you or your contract manufacturer have any other ‘standards’ certifications?<br /><br />Company Response to EMAIL #1:<br />Thank you for your email and interest in Garden of Life’s products. KIND Organics is an authentic whole food vitamin, capturing the complexity of food in the convenience of a daily supplement. KIND Organics labels are straightforward and simple: vitamin C from organic Amla berry, vitamin B1 from organic guava, and so on. No confusing terminology. Not only is KIND Organics made from real food, it is the first ever Certified USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified multivitamin which was no easy task! While many other brands of multis list “food-based”, “complexed” or “cultured” ingredients and carry the Non-GMO Project verification logo, none carry both the USDA Organic seal and the Non-GMO Project logo. KIND Organics is different because we start with organic food as our actual source of vitamins and minerals, not USP isolates and synthetics. Kind Organics is not trying to emulate nature because it is nature.<br /><br />The ingredients that are in our KIND Organics products are sourced in India, USA, UK, Iceland and South Korea.<br /><br />The products are all certified Organic therefore they are free of pesticides. Garden of Life believes that organic ingredients, grown without the use of toxic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides from natural, non-genetically modified foods are better for you, better for our planet and are the only way to protect our children’s future.<br /><br />Heavy Metals are naturally occurring in the soil therefore any ingredients including your fruits and vegetables that are grown in the soil will have naturally occurring amount of heavy metal. We assure you that ever bottle of KIND Organics Products are extremely safe. Every lot is tested and conforms to our rigid specifications for quality and consistency. The safety and efficacy of our products is of utmost concern. All raw materials have strict specifications and their Certificates of Analysis are kept on record. We also test all finished products for heavy metals, microbial growth and pathogenic species such as E. coli and Salmonella.<br /><br />The products are third party tested but like most companies we do not publish the names of our testers nor our COA. We produce them to FDA when we are required to.<br /><br />No, no clinical trials were done on the products.<br /><br />We use a USA contract manufacturer to make the KIND Products. Our premium quality products are manufactured in carefully selected facilities, and we work with manufacturers who have the highest quality standards and follow GMPs (Good Manufacturing Practices) set by the FDA. I am sorry but we do not disclose our manufacturers information.<br /><br />The process starts on the organic farm, where the produce is tree-ripened, hand-picked and loaded onto small trucks. It’s then delivered to the extraction facility within 30 minutes of harvest.<br /><br />The patented FRESH EXTRACTION™ process super-concentrates the nutrients naturally present in each botanical. There are three simple steps involved:<br /><br />1. Water extraction – no solvents or alcohol are used<br /><br />2. Concentration<br /><br />3. Separation and super-concentration (removing the sugars and other macronutrients as well as water)<br /><br />Following the multi-patented Fresh Extraction™ process, the organic produce is turned into a highly concentrated powder, standardized for vitamin and mineral content, within 24 hours of harvest!<br /><br />The rest of the information that you are requesting is proprietary information.<br /><br />We have an extensive quality program that surpasses many industry standards in order to deliver the best product to our customers, and we are committed to our customers' health and wellbeing.<br /><br />My Questions EMAIL #2, and Company Responds below each question:<br />Q. Considering you receive your foods from various countries, are the Organic Standards the same for all countries outside of the US?<br />A. Yes, All of our Products are U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Certified Organic. In order for a food or product to become certified USDA organic, and bear the prodigious seal, they must undergo rigorous scrutiny and testing by one of these accredited agencies. Testing is required at every stage of production, beginning with soil and water, including all the raw ingredients. Testing even applies to storage. Use of the USDA seal is illegal without such validation, it cannot simply be purchased and getting a product certified organic is a very expensive and laborious process. However, it reflects companies that are willing to do everything possible to produce the cleanest ingredients and nutritional supplements.<br /><br />Q. The COA helps to verify the adherence to product specifications and standards of production, and certifies the quality and purity. Natures Plus, put's their COA right in their container of their products. So why can't you share your COA?<br />A. I do understand your concern but I am so very sorry this it is a company policy, not to make public our COA.<br /><br />Q. As far as manufacturing standards, there are different GMP levels – such as Pharmaceutical GMP and Food GMP. So, are you saying that your standard of manufacturing is Pharmacutical or just Food grade?<br />A. We follow GMPs (Current Good Manufacturing Practices) that is set by the FDA. Please click on the following link for more details;[...]px<br /><br />Statement by me:<br />The majority of supplement companies contract out their manufacturing, thank you for sharing this. However, this affects quality control as these companies lose direct control over a crucial part of the production process. There is a handful of excellent contract manufacturers on the forefront of the latest trends and whose operations reach the highest quality standards. Then there is the rest, just trying to find out what your manufacturing company is.<br />I am not sure why you can't tell me the name of your manufacturing company, this is a crucial step towards knowing if the manufacturer is a company with a good or bad reputation. How am I supposed to take a vitamin from a company that hires a company to create their vitamin, then won't tell me what that manufacturing companies name is?<br />I would need to know the following manufacturing information if you can't provide me with a name (Q 1-7 follow):<br /><br />Q 1. If the manufacturing facility was pre-audited. Manufacturing specifications were presented to the manufacturer who already meet these or modified their operations to do so.<br /><br />A. Garden of Life knows and understands the regulations; we have a Quality Department that oversees cGMPs. We have established manufacturing and operating procedures, documentation for following these procedures. Garden of Life Quality Team works very closely with contract manufacturers and raw material suppliers, conducting GMP supplier audits, evaluating GMP status and identifying gaps; we confirm raw material identity and determine action plans to maintain and/or improve supplier's status. Garden of Life has created quality systems by establishing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), product specifications, implementing and following Good Documentation Practices and reviewing and investigating product complaints.<br /><br />Q 2. The standards comply to pharmaceutical GMPs, if only Food GMP, what standards are these that are followed?<br /><br />A. Standard that are set by cGMP and FDA. Also see above.<br /><br />Q 3. The facility is regularly audited and inspected by the supplement company.<br />A. Yes, we have a Quality Team that audit and inspect all of our manufacturing facility. See above.<br /><br />Q 4. The facility has been inspected by other regulatory authorities (local, regional, state, national).<br />A. Yes, All facility that we use are cGMP Compliant and are randomly audited by FDA and other local authorities.<br /><br />Q 5. The name of the manufacturer must be available to consumers.<br />A. I will try to get this information for you and if I do I will be happy to contact you.<br /><br />Q 6. The manufacturer should have a high quality website containing detailed information about their operations and quality control systems, and with a contact email address.<br />A- No response<br /><br />Q 7. How your vitamin is blended is essential as well, can you tell me what blending procedures you use to create your multivitamin? Common blending procedures will not allow each tablet or pill to be equal. How do I know if there is any stratification or granulation, this will determine the quality of your supplement as well.<br />A. I will also try to get this information for you and if I do I will be happy to contact you.<br /><br />My Final Statement:<br />I do appreciate your time responding back, only a few do respond back, these are the ones I can trust, but depends on their answers. Anyone can sell a multivitamin, but not anyone can be honest and credible.<br />I'm not asking for propriety information, just basic knowledge that should be shared to establish a healthy relationship between a company and the public.
