For years Kan has attempted to prioritize the purchase of organically grown herbs. A great example of this is with our red ginseng, which has been organic for over 8 years. With Kan’s recent leadership transition and my coming on board as Lead Herbalist, our efforts and commitment to procuring organic herbs has intensified and advanced. We've worked hard over the past 16 months, and take immense pride in the significant increase in the quantity and variety of organic herbs in our products, as well as our success in restocking them.
The use of organic herbs aligns perfectly with holistic medicine principles, as it considers the intricate interactions between individuals, their environment, and the broader ecosystem. This holistic view extends to considering the health of our lands, waterways, air, and the communities of both people and wildlife that interact with them.
The tradition of our medicine evolved in the context of organic agriculture and wildcrafting. Before the 1940's, essentially all herbs were either grown organically or wild-harvested. Respecting tradition, health, vitality, and holistic practices is central to our philosophy, and sourcing organic herbs is a natural extension of these values.
We are very fortunate that there are importers working diligently to bring high quality organic herbs to the US. We are incredibly grateful to Spring Wind for their deep commitment to quality and organic agriculture. As our primary partner for sourcing the herbs that go into the products you use, Spring Wind has made it possible for us to intensify our commitment to organics and herb quality overall. We are deeply thankful to work with a company that is led by the ideals of integrity, quality, kindness, and respect, along with concern for the environment. Additionally, we feel fortunate to have a long relationship with NuHerbs, who also take pride in importing high quality and organic herbs. Their herbs have long been a part of Kan’s products and we feel very fortunate to be able to procure their high quality herbs as well.
So, you might be wondering, “if you are so committed to organic herbs, why doesn’t it show on the labels?” This is a massive challenge for us due to a variety of reasons. I will try to outline a few of the major hiccups that we are working through.
Multiple labels: We have over 1400 unique labels for all the sizes and forms (extract, tablet) of our 300 products. This is a lot of labels to transition and will take some time for us.
Multiple lots: Each product is manufactured here in Santa Cruz, California, on a roughly yearly basis. We might have two different lots of the same product on the shelf in a different size or form at any one time. If there is a different amount of organic ingredients between lots then we risk misrepresenting this on the ingredients list for the product on our website, since our labeling usually doesn’t vary between lots. As the consistency of staple organic herbs we use improves (which it is continually doing), this problem will lessen. We are committed to transparency in our labeling and we want to be sure we are 100% clear to our valued customers about which herbs are organic and which are conventional.
Consistency of organic availability: There are some herbs which Kan is able to consistently procure in organic form, while other herbs are available in organic once at time of purchase, and then possibly only available as conventional the next time we buy. It is getting better with each passing year as more growers convert to organic methodologies, but it fuels the challenge of listing and labeling when an herb is available organically only some of the time.
We are currently working on solutions to these challenges by adapting existing systems and creating new ones. We sincerely look forward to the day you and your clients can clearly see the organic content of our products.
It is our long-term goal to become a certified organic manufacturer and distributor, and to be able to put the USDA organic label onto our products. We have begun discussions with Santa Cruz-based CCOF, to guide Kan’s efforts. In order to do this we will have to go through a lengthy process of certification for our manufacturing site to become certified organic.
So where to from here?
In the future, we hope to start changing our labels to list an organic herb with an asterisk * marking that ingredient. As we clear older lots of products and move to newer ones, we will also be able to list the organic ingredients on the product page of our website. We continue to prioritize purchasing organic herbs. Where organic herbs are not available we will purchase the highest quality, most rigorously tested herbs available. As before, we continue our rigorous testing program for pesticides, heavy metals, and microorganisms. We truly want clean, potent, responsible herbs for our products, and for you and your patients.
Organic Herb List
Bai Guo Ye/Yixing Ye
Bai He
Bai Ji Li
Bai Mu Er
Bai Xian Pi
Bai Shao
Bai Zhu
Ban Lan Gen
Ban Xia, Fa/Jiang
Bo He
Cang Er Zi
Cang Zhu
Chai Hu
Che Qian Cao
Che Qian Zi
Chi Shao
Chuan Mu Tong
Da Huang
Dan Shen
Dang Gui
Dang Gui Wei
Dang Shen
Di Huang, Sheng/Shou
Di Yu
Dong Chong Xia Cao/Yong Chong Cao (Cordyceps)
Fan Xie Ye
Fang Feng
Fu Ling
Gan Cao
Gan Jiang
Ge Gen
Gou Qi Zi
Gui Zhi
Hei Zhi Ma
Hong Zao
Hu Zhang
Huang Bai
Huang Lian
Huang Qi
Huang Qin
Jiang Huang
Jie Geng
Jin Yin Hua
Jing Jie
Ju Hua
Jue Ming Zi
Ling Zhi
Lian Zi
Long Yan Rou
Lu Xian Cao
Me Gui Hua
Mu Zei
Niu Bang Zi
Pu Gong Ying
Qing Hao
Ren Shen
Rou Gui
Sang Ji Sheng
Sang Ye
Sha Shen
Shan Yao
Shan Zha
Sheng Ma
Suan Zao Ren, Chao
Wei Ling Xian
Ci Wu Jia/Wu Jia Shen
Wu Wei Zi
Xiao Mai
Xuan Shen
Yin Yang Huo
Yi Yi Ren
Yu Zhu
Zhi He Shou Wu
Zhu Ling