Sourcing, Testing & Marketing Claims

1. Identity before promotion

Commercial records should identify scientific name, plant part, form, supplier lot, received lot, and finished batch. Common names and supplier descriptions are leads, not substitutes for the approved specification and identity review.

2. Supplier and origin statements

Supplier, farm, wild-harvest, country-of-origin, cultivation, sustainability, and labor claims must be traceable to the specific lot and must not be broadened beyond the document or audit that supports them. Confidential supplier identity may remain private while the internal audit trail remains complete.

3. Testing language

“Tested” is incomplete without the lot, analyte or attribute, method, laboratory, sample, specification, result, and date. A certificate of analysis supports only the represented sample and questions; it is not a blanket promise of purity, safety, efficacy, or absence of every contaminant.

4. Organic and cultivation claims

Organic status belongs to documented material and handling. A finished product should not be called “organic,” use the USDA seal, or imply certification unless composition, handling, certification, label, and certifier statements satisfy the applicable USDA category.

If only a specific ingredient is documented as certified organic, the claim must remain ingredient-specific and appear only where the rules permit. “Natural,” “clean,” pesticide-free, chemical-free, and similar broad terms require their own substantiation and context.

5. Health, safety, and traditional-use claims

Every express and implied health or safety claim requires appropriate prior substantiation. Qualification must be clear and close enough to change the net impression; a footer disclaimer does not cure a contradictory headline, product name, image, testimonial, or search snippet.

Traditional use may be described only when accurately sourced and clearly presented as historical context rather than proof of modern efficacy. The marketed species, part, preparation, strength, route, and purpose must match the tradition being described.

6. Reviews, testimonials, and influencers

Lot & Leaf must not publish or amplify a customer or influencer claim that it could not lawfully make itself. Material connections require clear disclosure, atypical results cannot be presented as typical without adequate qualification, and disease claims must be removed or handled through a documented moderation process.

7. Claim approval workflow

A claim must have an owner, exact approved text, product and preparation scope, source file, evidence status, approval date, publication channels, and review trigger. Material supplier, formula, label, research, regulatory, or complaint changes should reopen approval.