Arianrhod Aromatics

The word ‘natural’ is used all to frequently in advertising to describe products that could only in the most generous interpretation be regarded as such. So many product labels are strewn with claims that attempt to convince the consumer of the imbued health benefits etc, but only achieve the reverse effect. Shoppers are becoming more wary and harder to conceive. The dictionary defines natural numerously and marketeers have been using this to great advantage: pushing one obvious interpretation of the word in their branding, but at the same time claiming legal right over a far looser or broader meaning.

Unfortunately this can be problematic to companies in a similar position to Arianrhod Aromatics, companies that actually do make a natural product, ‘natural’ as defined in the dictionary definition above. What language have such companies left to their disposal to describe the qualities of their wares to the people who want to find them? Well there is one alternative, two words in fact that are protected by law and cannot be used indiscriminately: “Certified Organic”.

 

There are several reasons why it is impractical for many companies to go Certified Organic. Foremost for the majority of businesses and small manufacturers is the prohibitive expense. It is extremely expensive to obtain organic certification at any level for one, let alone a range of products. In addition to the initial certification expense, there is the ongoing cost of continuing to prove to the authorities that your products are organic, yearly fees, and if a company decided to vary the way it makes a product or it’s constituents, it’s back to the beginning of the process once again.

 

Then there is the additional question of whether to obtain Australian certification, American, European or International? Each has a different interpretation of what constitutes ‘organic’ and thus qualifies for certification. Then there is the added loophole that with some certifications, the product need not be made up of 100% certified organic ingredients. On top of that, there are new classifications each year of what growing methods are and are not considered organic practice.

 

It is understandable that obtaining an organic certification is often the reserve of much larger manufacturers creating product on a massive scale. High tech machinery and minute clinical accuracy to maintain an identical (some would say soulless) product certainly makes reporting to authorities a more streamlined affair.

 

Some companies simply use the word organic, or a slightly different sounding variation of organic, with out first having Organic Certification. Many of these are well-intentioned companies attempting to communicate that the products constituents are organic, like Arianrhod Aromatics. However, there are others who again take advantage of a much looser legal interpretation of the word, whilst disguising their product in ‘organic camouflage’, they may well be peddling a poor synthetic substitute.

 

Again it is ‘consumer beware’ and sure enough, people are becoming wise to this practice. All the ‘organic camouflages’ have succeeded achieving is bringing the word ‘organic’ into disrepute and bringing doubt on well meaning companies who do use organic produce, but for their own reasons have not sought Organic Certification.

 

Happily yes there is, but the solution is not foolproof. The ingredients list on every product puts in order of greatest proportion to least, the list of the real contents of the product. This gives the consumer a pretty firm idea of what they are purchasing. There are several exceptions to the rule. A product may be mostly water, but it need not list water as the first ingredient. This is most common where an ingredient list separately mentions water, away from the rest of the list. Ingredients can also be pre-combined into a second product, then introduced back into the first. This can be the case with some food products containing for example chocolate or cheese. 

 

Something to be aware of in skincare is an entirely new product with a new sounding name can be invented and only that new sounding name (not what’s in it) can appear in ingredient lists. The truth is that there is no actual legal obligation to list the ingredients in skincare and similar products. Many companies fabricate compelling and effective sounding names for their skincare constituents to make the ingredients lists sound all the more desirable. Others still claim to have miraculous secret ingredients (but that’s another article).