Earthrise® University: Safety
Approved as Food in Over 20 Countries
Spirulina has a long history of human consumption and is known as a safe, nutritious microalgae. In the past 20 years, it has been marketed and consumed as a safe human food and has been approved as a food for human consumption by many governments, health agencies and associations of over 20 countries. Based on 30 years of safety and quality research, many countries and organizations have established Spirulina Quality and Safety Standards.
40 Daily QC Tests on Living Ponds & Dry Product
Our technicians collect samples from the pond water and the final dry product for dozens of different analytical tests. Only after each lot has passed all tests is it certified ready to ship, accompanied by a laboratory report. Additionally, independent laboratories in the USA and Japan periodically confirm protein, pigments, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, microbiology and heavy metals.
GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) is a procedure where a company submits a notice to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) reporting their determination, through scientific procedures, that their product is GRAS for addition to a variety of foods. Conclusion of the notification procedure (through a written response by the FDA) provides assurance to both consumers and food manufacturers that the FDA has had an opportunity to review the safety evaluation of the product for its intended use.
In March 2003, Earthrise Nutritionals submitted a joint notice to the FDA determining that its Spirulina met the requirements for GRAS for use in specialty foods, powdered nutritionals drink mixes, snacks (such as popcorn) and as a condiment in salads and pasta. FDA had no objection to the GRAS determination. A copy of the letter from FDA regarding the GRAS notice is found in the FDA's website at www.fda.gov.
Pesticide Free Spirulina
Earthrise Nutritionals has never used pesticides or herbicides. Because more and more people are concerned about pesticide residues in their foods, Spirulina has been additionally tested for residual environmental residues since 1993. Independent lab tests have not detected any of over 66 possible contaminant residues. We believe this extra level of assurance is important to quality-conscious natural food customers.
Algal Toxin Safety Research
Because of concern about toxic blue-algae growing in lakes, Earthrise developed a program to assure these toxic algae are not present in Spirulina ponds. First, daily microscopic examinations of the living culture are conducted. Second, in cooperation with university researchers, farm scientists have developed immunoassay and enzyme inhibition bioassay methods to detect nanogram levels of toxins. Very few laboratories in the world are capable of such analysis.
Meets All International Food Safety and Quality Guidelines
The Earthrise farm is subject to inspections by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the State of California. Its success in exceeding all food safety and quality standards is attributed to the remote farm location, clean air and water, premium quality nutrients, and the total quality management approach to quality control.
Earthrise, the world's largest Spirulina microalgae producer, has an ISO 9001:2008 Registered Quality Management System. ISO 9001:2008 is the most comprehensive of the standards and covers product design, engineering, manufacturing, purchasing, marketing and sales. The ISO quality standards are presently recognized in over 80 countries across the world.
Spirulina Around the World
As a blue-green algae, Spirulina products were included in the sampling and testing conducted by Health Canada. Results of the testing, conducted at two separate laboratories, indicate that no microcystins were detected in blue-green algal products containing only Spirulina. Based on these results, products made only from Spirulina are no longer being considered a microcystin-related health risk.
Health Canada: Only Spirulina found Microcystin free Web PDF