Responsible sourcing of wild-harvested botanicals

SAI Platform and UEBT are partnering to accelerate the responsible sourcing of wild-harvested botanicals.

Leveraging the expertise and strengths of both organisations, the partnership provides a unified approach to sustainable and ethical sourcing of wild-harvested botanicals.

Wild-harvested botanicals are a key ingredient in the food and beverage, beauty, and pharmaceutical sectors. However, their responsible sourcing presents unique challenges particularly in safeguarding biodiversity and supporting community livelihoods.

Together, we are tackling these challenges and aligning our efforts to drive meaningful and scalable solutions. We empower companies with expert guidance and clear pathways for verifying and communicating the sustainability of wild-harvested botanicals.

A SAI Platform and UEBT partnership

SAI Platform has developed Principles and Practices for Sourcing Wild Harvested Botanicals to guide members in their journey towards the sustainable sourcing of wild-harvested botanicals.

In recognition of UEBT’s extensive experience in navigating the complexities of wild-harvested supply chains, SAI Platform has retired the Wild Harvest Sustainability Assessment and recommends that members use UEBT’s well established verification and certification programmes. SAI Platform members will gain access to UEBT’s expertise in ethical sourcing, including knowledge, resources, and tools specifically designed for wild-harvested supply chains.

Assessments of wild-harvested supply chains

Making sustainability claims for wild-harvested botanicals

Companies that wish to have supply chains assessed and/or to make claims related to these assessments are recommended to use the UEBT internationally recognised assurance programmes. The UEBT verification programme offers users a similar experience to the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) by SAI Platform at a comparable cost, but with an expert network of wild harvesting assessors and in-house experts. It is improvement-focused, and allows for business-facing claims and limited public-facing claims when additional requirements are met. 

UEBT also has third-party certification available with a consumer-facing label. Certification is based on independent audits by third-party auditors. UEBT's certification assures customers or consumers that the ingredient is sourced with respect for people and biodiversity.

Get Verified

Steps to take

  1. Consult the SAI Platform Principles and Practices for Sourcing Wild Harvested Botanicals to get familiar with the types of responsible sourcing practices promoted by SAI Platform and UEBT.

  2. Consider if field verification (an external supply chain assessment that is improvement focused) of one or more wild-harvested botanicals is right for your company’s strategy.

  3. Reach out to UEBT at verification@uebt.org to learn more about its verification programme and plan your next steps. You may also wish to download the UEBT global standard. 

Get Certified

Steps to take

  1. Consult the SAI Platform Principles and Practices for Sourcing Wild Harvested Botanicals to get familiar with the types of responsible sourcing practices promoted by SAI Platform and UEBT.

  2. Consider if third-party certification is right for your strategy. Audits are conducted by certification bodies, are annual in frequency, and are compliance-focused. UEBT verification takes a different approach.

  3. Reach out to UEBT at certification@uebt.org to learn more about the programme and plan your next steps. You may also wish to download the UEBT global standard. 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • SAI Platform recognised UEBT’s longstanding expertise on wild-harvested botanicals including its internationally recognised standard that includes requirements on wild-harvesting.  This partnership accelerates responsible sourcing while eliminating duplication of efforts.  It also provides companies with a clearer path to compliance, while maintaining high levels of oversight and credibility.

  • To avoid duplication of effort and in recognition of UEBT’s expertise in navigating the complexities of wild-harvested supply chains, SAI Platform has made the decision to retire the WHSA. However, the learnings have been developed into the SAI Platform Principles and Practices for Wild Harvested Botanicals to guide members on the journey to sustainable sourcing. SAI Platform recommends that members wishing to be verified use the UEBT assurance programmes.

  • The UEBT verification programme is improvement-focused with ‘critical’ requirements for “Responsibly Sourced” botanicals, or additional requirements for “Ethically Sourced” botanicals. Its certification programme is a third-party programme that will offer consumer-facing labelling to SAI Platform members.

  • UEBT assurance programmes are based on the UEBT global standard, which includes social and environmental requirements and takes a stepwise approach.  The UEBT standard is well recognised for its inclusion of criteria focused on wild-harvesting.  UEBT is also ISEAL Code Compliant. This means that the UEBT standards system has been independently evaluated against ISEAL’s Codes of Good Practice, see more information at iseal.org.

  • UEBT verification allows for business facing claims as well as some public-facing text claims.  The text claims offered refer to two levels of verification that can be met: UEBT verified responsibly sourced [name of botanical] or UEBT verified ethically sourced [name of botanical]. For more information on UEBT communications allowed for its verification programme see the UEBT Claims and Labelling Policy. 

    Note that users of UEBT’s verification can also make FSA benchmark equivalency claims.

  • The cost of verification is similar to the FSA cost experience but varies depending on the botanical ingredient, geographic location, complexity of the supply chain, and other considerations.  UEBT can discuss your needs and make a custom quote for you. Contact verification@uebt.org