Can you imagine how much less exciting our world would be without the colors, flavors, health benefits, and fragrances of herbs and spices? But even though we use them every day, their journey from farm to shelf is complex and faces many sustainability challenges. That’s why the Rainforest Alliance partnered with the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) to create a joint certification for herbs and spices that is fostering a more sustainable and regenerative future for the industry.
Here, you’ll learn more about our work and find links to helpful content and resources.
The combined UEBT-Rainforest Alliance standard for herbs and spices focuses on four key areas:
Sourcing certified herbs and spices brings key business benefits, such as helping to minimize risk, promoting responsible supply chains, and meeting sustainability commitments. Find out how.
Explore our Herbs and Spices program in this video. Through certification, we set up processes to improve farming practices, boost soil health, protect biodiversity, improve farmer and worker incomes, and protect workers’ rights.
We are on the board of the Sustainable Spice Initiative. Members have sustainable sourcing targets, and Rainforest Alliance certification is one of the best ways to meet this target.
The joint certification program combines our expertise in sustainable agriculture and UEBT’s knowledge of sourcing from biodiverse areas, including ingredients collected from the wild.
The Rainforest Alliance partnered with the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) to create a joint certification for herbs and spices that is fostering a more sustainable and regenerative future for the industry.
Learn more about the Rainforest Alliance and the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT)'s joint Herbs & Spices Program.
Learn more about the standards that apply to farms and supply chain actors.
Spices are a cornerstone of our diets. But beyond their bold flavours hides a supply chain of exploitation. To truly ensure our cupboards are ethical, it's time our spice racks get a revamp.
The Rainforest Alliance and the Union for Ethical BioTrade have developed a new joint Herbs & Spices Program. This decision tree helps farms that have certified herbs, spices, rooibos or other herbal tea ingredients under previous Rainforest Alliance or UTZ programs to identify which standard applies for them under the new program.
The Rainforest Alliance developed a Wild Harvest Guideline for use in a pilot project related to collection of wild rosehip (Rosa canina) in Chile. It was based on the Rainforest Alliance’s 2017 Sustainable Agriculture Standard. The first version of the Wild Harvest Guidelines have been reviewed to accommodate insights gained from Chilean project and from […]
As packers of Rainforest Alliance Certified herbal and fruit tea you need to send quarterly an Excel sheet with an overview of your herbal and fruit tea volumes used in manufacturing of finished products from 1 July, 2020 onwards to customersuccess@ra.org.
Definitions differ, but at its heart, sustainable agriculture is about meeting the needs of the present, without sacrificing those of tomorrow—it’s farming that is environmentally sound, socially responsible, and profitable for farmers.... Continue Reading
The Rainforest Alliance's Sarah Fadika, who works in our sustainable vanilla and cocoa programs, shares impressions from her recent trip to Madagascar, where much of the world’s vanilla is grown.
A glass frog on a vanilla leaf reach signals rich biodiversity in the rainforest here.
Photo credit: Sarah Fadika
Walking through the rainforest here in Madagascar, it’s not uncommon to spot a frog on a vanilla...... Continue Reading