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At Green Pasture Products we are continually improving how we operate, which includes making our web site and product labeling more useful to you. Based on customer feedback and new FDA labeling standards, we are making changes to our labels and our web site to work together to provide a complete picture of ourproduct’s nutritional information.
Our new labels will have the familiar design you’ve come to recognize, however,quantities of Vitamins A & D will no longer appear on the label. Instead, we’ve moved detailed information about our testing results to our web site. Along with random testing results of Vitamin A & D found in our products, we’ll also be providing information on pollutants like heavy metals and PCBs - none of which fits into the small space of a label.
There are numerous forms of Vitamin A & D. Nutrient pioneer, Dr. Royal Lee,identified over 160 forms of Vitamin A alone. We test our products for just two of those forms – a daunting enough task.
In testing our fermented cod liver oil, we noticed some of the minor forms of Vitamin A identified by Dr. Lee. Since Vitamin A is broken down into minor forms during the natural digestion process, our research results are not surprising. We believe these minor forms have additional health benefits that can’t be represented on a label.
Similar variability and testing struggles are present in Vitamin D. Hundreds of forms are possible, but in the end only two are commonly measured.
Our former label reported the average amounts of Vitamins A & D present in the random testing of our fermented cod liver oil, but this is no longer permitted by the FDA. Current standards call for the testing of each batch produced to meet minimum FDA requirements. But as we’ve pointed out, the variables of natural foods are too numerous to ensure that each batch will contain a consistent amount. And it is not practical to test each batch – as our batches are small compared to mainstream manufacturers.
Because of this, the challenge we face is determining how to present this information on a label.
In general, the industrialized food model meets label requirements by adding specific amounts of synthetic vitamins that are easily measured in a lab and reporting those on their labels. Green Pasture Products is committed to providing high quality real food and will not use synthetic vitamins, regardless of the consequences.
One option we considered would be to show the lowest possible amount of Vitamins A & D based on any batch, but this does not give you an accurate picture of the nutritional value of our products. As such we have decided to remove this information from our labels and make it available on our website – where it makes sense. The random test data that will be provided will not be for any one specific lot or jar but is for general discussion.
We will not compromise our products simply to satisfy FDA labeling requirements. We prefer to offer products as they have been available for thousands of years – without regard to today's industrialized media-driven, food-labeling requirements.
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