Serve Good CERTIFICATIONS
Fair Trade Alliance: Fair Trade Certified™ products are made with respect for people and the planet. Their rigorous social, environmental and economic standards work to promote safe, healthy working conditions, protect the environment, enable transparency and empower communities to build strong, thriving businesses.
Rainforest Alliance: Rainforest Alliance is a non-governmental organization working to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. In order to become RFA certified, farms must meet criteria set by the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN), a coalition of leading conservation groups that work to promote sustainability agriculture. Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms are audited regularly to verify that farmers are complying with the SAN standard’s comprehensive guidelines, which require continual improvement on the journey to sustainable agriculture.
Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) – Wild-Caught: The Marine Stewardship Council is an international non-profit organization created to address the problem of unsustainable fishing and works to safeguard wild-caught seafood supplies. The blue MSC eco-label on a seafood product means that it is fully traceable to sustainable fisheries that have been certified to the global MSC standard.
Fishery Improvement Project (FIP): A Fishery Improvement Project is an alliance of wild-caught-seafood buyers, suppliers and producers, working together to improve specific fisheries by encouraging better policies around illegal fishing, by-catch and habitat impacts. The end goal of an FIP is to ensure the long-term viability of the fishery and usually ends in MSC certification.
Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) – Farmed: The Global Seafood Alliance is an international non-profit nongovernment organization dedicated to advancing responsible seafood practices through education, advocacy, and third-party assurances. Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) standards encompass the entire production chain, including processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills. The program addresses every key element of responsible aquaculture, including environmental responsibility, social accountability, food safety and animal health and welfare. The BAP star system indicates integration levels of certification along the aquaculture production chain.
1 Star: Product produced by a BAP-certified processing plant
2 Stars: Product produced by a BAP-certified processing plant and BAP-certified farm(s) only
3 Stars: Product produced by a BAP-certified processing plant and BAP-certified farm(s) only, and BAP-certified hatchery and/or feed mill
4 Stars: Product produced by a BAP-certified processing plant, BAP-certified farm(s) only, BAP-certified hatchery only and BAP-certified feed mill only
Raised Without Antibiotics: Antibiotics are never used in livestock described by this official U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) term. This term is not to be confused with “antibiotic-free,” a claim which is unapproved by the USDA and considered misleading, as antibiotics may only be absent at the time of harvest.
American Humane Certified: Created by the American Humane Association, American Humane Certified is the first third-party certifying body in the U.S. specializing in the welfare of livestock and poultry. The AHA has established comprehensive, science-based standards for pork, beef, poultry and dairy to help ensure that farms raising livestock and poultry under their certification improve the welfare of animals.
BPI® Compostable: The Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI), a not-for-profit association, works to build credibility and recognition by certifying products that meet the ASTM D6400 and/or D6868 standards to ensure products are compostable.
USDA Bio Preferred®: Managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the goal of the Bio Preferred program is to increase the purchase and use of biobased products, or products derived from plants and other renewable agricultural, marine and forestry materials. Within the Bio Preferred program, these products do not include food, animal feed or fuel.
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC): The Forest Stewardship Council is a non-profit organization that promotes the responsible management of the world’s forests. This certification states that the fiber sourced from forest down through the manufacturing of a corrugate case has been properly managed socially, economically and environmentally, per FSC guidelines, through a chain of custody.
Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI): The Sustainable Forestry Initiative is a non-profit organization that focuses on sustainable fiber sourcing. This fiber is tracked through a chain of custody from certified forests in North America down through the printing of corrugate cases by SFI-certified printers.
USDA Organic: There are three levels of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) certification specifying varying degrees of organic products in a food. All organic ingredients are non-GMO and free of synthetic substances in accordance with USDA regulations. They are raised without chemical pesticides, fungicides or fertilizers, and livestock is raised without antibiotics or synthetic growth hormones. Organic products are segregated in production and must be certified by a USDA-approved certifying agent.
Non-GMO Project Verified: Non-GMO Project Verified products do not contain any genetically modified organisms (GMOs), which means they have not been genetically altered in any way. Packaging with the Non-GMO Project Verified seal conveys that the product has been produced using non-GMO practices as certified by a third party.
Upcycled Certified: The Upcycled Certified™ Program is the world’s first third-party certification program for upcycled food ingredients and products. The flagship of the Program is the on-package mark, which helps retailers feature upcycled products on shelf, and indicates to consumers which products are Upcycled Certified™, providing the opportunity to prevent food waste with every purchase. Developed by the Upcycled Food Association, the mark highlights upcycled ingredients and products procured and produced with surplus food or food by-products from manufacturing, that use verifiable supply chains and have a positive impact on the environment.