Diving into sustainable wild collection at FairWild Forum

2020-03-02T17:52:28+00:00May 14th, 2019|Tags: , , |

Did you know that commercial wild-collection in Europe is alive and kicking? ProFound senior consultant Robbie Hogervorst participated in FairWild Forum 2019 in Budapest. During the forum he visited wild collection sites near the Hungarian-Croatian border. Here Roma collectors benefit from working for FairWild-certified operations: At the time of visit, the group was collecting wild garlic. better working conditions, better and more stable incomes and fair trade premiums to invest in community projects.   At the FairWild Forum, Robbie also presented how FairWild certification can support compliance to the Nagoya Protocol for Access and Benefit Sharing. Other speakers [Read more]

Sustainable and equitable Jatamansi trade from Nepal

2021-11-25T07:13:45+00:00July 10th, 2018|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Together with our partners TRAFFIC International and ANSAB (Asia Network for Sustainable and Bioresources), ProFound has been awarded funding by the Darwin Initiative through the UK Government for the project “Succeeding with CITES: Sustainable and equitable Jatamansi trade from Nepal”.  Jatamansi (Nardostachys grandiflora) only grows naturally in the Himalayan range, mainly in Nepal, India and China. The root of this plant is used in traditional medicine. Its essential oil is also used in cosmetics and aromatherapy.  Sustainability issues of Jatamansi Habitat loss and overexploitation of Jatamansi is leading to a degradation of the species, which poses future problems for the [Read more]

Results of one year NI-CheckApp: alignment with control bodies, suppliers and buyers

2019-04-12T15:22:19+00:00March 8th, 2018|Tags: , , , , |

In 2017, ProFound launched the NI-CheckApp: a compliance tool for suppliers of wild-collected natural ingredients that would save time and money by harmonising multiple certification documentation. Now that we’re one year further, what have we achieved? Documentation set is complete In the past year, we transformed the concept of the NI-CheckApp into reality. The tool now boasts a complete and integrated documentation set including the operator profile for wild collection for Organic, FairWild, Fair standards and GACP. Control bodies buy into the use of NI-CheckApp Control bodies such as Control Union and IMO/Ecocert are welcoming the use of the NI-CheckApp. [Read more]

ProFound @BioFach: bringing African, Pakistani and Kosovar suppliers

2020-03-04T08:27:49+00:00February 9th, 2018|Tags: , , , , , , |

From 14-17 February, ProFound will manage the Organic Africa Pavilion at Biofach. We will also support two Pakistani suppliers at the CBI stand, introduce South African and Kosovar companies to interesting partners in Europe and join in the FairWild event on Thursday 15 February.Going to BioFach? Read on to see where to find us.Organic Africa Pavilion - stand 4-35911 suppliers from 5 African countries will exhibit their sweet and spicy products at the Organic Africa Pavilion hosted by ProFound at stand 4-359. Buyers and other visitors are welcome to smell and taste fresh papaya, wild pepper, tiger nuts, cocoa beans, baobab and [Read more]

Sustainable collection standards for Pakistani pine nuts cheaper and easier with NI-CheckApp

2020-03-04T11:50:40+00:00December 22nd, 2017|Tags: , , , , , |

Hunza Organics, based in Northern Pakistan, has just passed its first inspection for FairWild certification, of wild-collected, organic pine nuts. We expect the certification decision to be made in January, which would make Hunza Organics the first company with multiple certified products in the pilot that CBI and ProFound designed for Northern Pakistan. We are proud that Hunza Organics used our total compliance tool, NI-CheckApp, to make the implementation of sustainable collection standards cheaper and easier. Our IN2NI colleague Michael Schwegler provided technical support throughout this process. In their final step towards the European market, Hunza Organics will exhibit their products at the BioFach trade [Read more]

Pukka Herbs and ProFound ready to pilot NI-CheckApp

2018-02-07T11:14:32+00:00September 12th, 2017|Tags: , , , , , , |

Pukka Herbs and ProFound are ready to pilot our Natural Ingredients (NI) CheckApp for wild ingredients in India. We will use this tool to help Pukka Herbs establish clear, agreeable sustainability best practices and minimum guidelines with their suppliers. “One of the challenges faced by some of our suppliers is that we require both organic and FairWild certification; this currently requires two separate audits and two sets of documents, making it a time-consuming and costly undertaking. It is exciting to see that ProFound has created a tool that harmonises and simplifies some of the key certifications in our supply chain.” [Read more]

CBI and ProFound awarded for Natural Ingredients work in Pakistan – preparing companies for multiple certifications

2020-03-04T09:47:29+00:00August 25th, 2017|Tags: , , , , , , |

ProFound executive director Bert-Jan Ottens and IN2NI colleague Michael Schwegler just returned from a CBI mission in Pakistan, in the context of CBI’s Natural Ingredients programme. During the mission, Bert-Jan and Michael trained five companies on traceability and sustainability requirements, and the certification thereof. Three companies are prepared for certification in 2017/18, using ProFound’s NI-CheckApp. The companies are getting ready for FairWild and organic certification audits later this year, and aim to present their dual-certified pine nuts at the BioFach trade fair in Germany in February 2018. At a trade Expo in Gilgit-Baltistan, the team received an award from the [Read more]

Successful Vitafoods exhibition: 280 new business contacts

2020-07-23T07:41:39+00:00May 31st, 2017|Tags: , , , |

During Vitafoods 2017, ProFound supported seven exporters from South Africa and Pakistan at the CBI stand. We helped the exhibitors launch their products on the global health and nutraceutical ingredients market. The trade fair in Geneva was a success, the companies made 280 new business contacts. They have many potential leads to pursue. ProFound supported the exhibitors in presenting their products and company attractively and professionally. We linked them to buyers from Europe and beyond. Trade fair support and B2B Matchmaking are some of our activities covered by our market entry  solution. The seven companies were well prepared to [Read more]

ProFound launches certification tool at BioFach 2017

2018-01-26T10:20:41+00:00February 22nd, 2017|Tags: , |

Our tool for faster and cheaper certification of sustainable natural ingredients During BioFach 2017, we launched our integrated certification tool for suppliers of wild-collected natural ingredients. This tool helps suppliers to assess and certify their supply chains according to multiple sustainability standards at the same time. It includes all protocols to comply with international standards and certifications such as Good Agricultural Collection Practices (GACP), organic, FairWild and fair trade. Each standard demands different documentation sets, but these often overlap. “Certification is a costly and dreading process for suppliers. We designed this tool to make the certification process cheaper and more convenient for suppliers in emerging [Read more]

Go to Top