On March 11, 2010, Earth2o became one of only 49 waters in the world to receive the highest level of Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification from NSF International. A Level 3 certification, to be precise, from the world’s leading non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to public health and safety-management practices. More about the SQF program here.
Achieving this certification requires total transparency from a business. It includes a comprehensive audit of all production and business processes around what we do and how we do it: where the water comes from, how it’s transported, where the bottles are blown, when they were capped, where they were sold, etc., etc. Lots and lots of paperwork to be sure, but all to show you’ve got every detail accounted for. (We mention this in more detail in one of our homepage videos, “Behind the Label.”) For the sake of public health, when food or beverages market themselves as “all-natural” (and perceived to be “healthier”), this seems like a no-brainer.
This is the kind of testing we love. It lays your company bare to an organization who is in the business of finding what gets missed, overlooked or glossed-over. It’s purely voluntary and requires a lot of extra work to be in compliance, but it ensures Earth2o is held to the highest possible standards—beyond even the community water safety standards (not to mention community perceptions) we exceed.
Routine governmental agency testing of bottled water? Bottled water held to same standards as community water sources? Public safety certification from distinguished not-for-profit, non-governmental organizations for bottled water? Yes, yes, and yes again.
An overview of NSF’s Beverage and Bottled Water Program is here.
