As of September 2003 Mountain Rose Herbs has successfully fulfilled its promise to our customers to have all non-organic or conventionally grown materials removed from its product line entirely.

This makes Mountain Rose Herbs the first herbal products supplier to offer a complete line of botanicals that are organically grown, wildharvested or cultivated without chemicals. In order for us to convert our product to consist of all organic products will be determined by the industries capability to cultivate many of the herbs and spices traded on the market as certified organic, especially for rare tropicals, and rainforest products, which have always presented problems in regards to organic certification.

In the past year alone Mountain Rose Herbs was able to convert over 80 botanicals to certified organic through contracting with farmers, and we expect to increase our organic offerings as time moves forward.

2 exceptions to this are Gum Arabic and Benzoin, which are now listed as conventional products. The Gum Arabic we expect to have converted to certified organic status in the next 1-2 months, and Benzoin gum, will be removed from the botanicals list and offered exclusively as a cosmetic agent within the "Bulk Ingredients" list.

To help you understand the terminology used within the herb and spice marketplace, we have included a glossary which we feel will be helpful to you.

Certified Organic- Grown, harvested and processed without the use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, herbicides, GMO's, synthetic chemicals, growth agents, and free from irradiation and chemical sterilization. All certified organic materials are certified though OTCO, a USDA accredited third party certification agency. (Certificates available upon request)

Wildharvested- Items gathered from their natural environment, such as woodlands, prairies, deserts etc. All wildharvested items are taken to separate facilities for further processing. All Wildharvested items offered by Mountain Rose Herbs are screened for environmental sensitivity and ethical stewardship in their gathering.

Cultivated Without Chemicals (CWC)- Grown without the use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, herbicides, GMO's, synthetic chemicals, and free from irradiation and chemical sterilization. Unlike materials sold as certified organic, our growers of these materials have not had their operations certified through a third party certification agency, but they have acknowledged the rejection of the aforementioned growing methods. All items listed as "Cultivated Without Chemicals" are tested free from pesticide, organophasphate, and carbamate residues through our laboratory. (Certificates available upon request)

In addition to the organic commitment exercised by Mountain Rose Herbs, we would like to assure our customers that the line of bulk herbs and botanicals we offer are

• True certified organic by OTCO (Oregon Tilth Certified Organic)
• Free from irradiation and ozone treatment, sulfur, gasses and other sanitary chemicals.
• Quality control tested, analyzed and supervised
• Unsurpassable in color, depth, taste and aroma
• Ethically wildharvested when not certified organic
• Guaranteed fresh and not from "warehouse stock"
• Processed and handled according to strict organic standards
• Grown, harvested, processed and handled by fun, knowledgeable and caring people

To learn more about our certified organic status through OTCO, please click here….
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/about/otoc.php

To learn more about our quality control methods and laboratory, please click here…..
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/bulkherb/quality.php