All products with the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal (except herbal teas and palm oil) must contain at least 90 percent of the certified ingredient. In the case of mass balance supply chains, 100 percent of the equivalent certified volume must be certified against our Sustainable Agriculture Standard.
Why are there exceptions?
When it comes to herbal teas, products must contain at least 50 percent of the certified ingredient(s) to use our new seal. The main reason for this lower threshold is the limited supply of some of the different herbal ingredients such as berries, licorice, and mint. While there are thousands of coffee, cocoa, tea and banana farms certified according to our standards, there are fewer licorice or mint farms, for example.
Our current requirements for the use of the seal on herbal tea products allow more companies to embark on the sustainability journey. As the available supply grows, we will gradually increase the minimum percentage to the 90 percent threshold.
Whenever the percentage of certified content is below 90 percent, the percentage must be clearly indicated on product packaging. In this way consumers can easily see what percentage of certified content is in their favorite seal-bearing products.
