What You'll Learn
- How to build a product formulation, including what counts as an ingredient versus a processing aid.
- The four composition categories for human food and what each one requires from your ingredient list.
- How to calculate your organic percentage correctly.
- What to do when your formulation uses seasonal or variable ingredients.
- How the rules differ if you produce livestock feed rather than human food.
Watch Time: 12:24
Your product formulation determines what you can legally claim on your label. This video defines what a formulation is, how every input is categorized as an ingredient or a processing aid, and how the organic composition categories for human food work, from “100 percent” organic down through the “made with organic” and under-70-percent tiers, along with what each category allows on the label. It then walks through the calculation that decides which category a product falls into, including the rules that most often trip up new handlers, such as rounding down and leaving water and salt out of the math entirely. The video also covers the situations that sit outside the standard approach, including recipes that shift with the season and livestock feed, which has its own composition rules. Handlers describe how they manage formulation changes without losing certification. Watch this video when you’re developing a new product, reworking a recipe, or working out which label category your composition earns.
About the Featured Operations
TCHO Chocolate
- Organic Chocolate Maker
- Berkeley, CA
- Certified Organic since 2009
An organic chocolate maker focused on flavor and sustainability, built on the philosophy that better beans make a better bar. It works directly with cacao-farming communities in Ghana, Ecuador, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Madagascar, co-creating higher quality, and at times helping growers reach organic status, all without compromising on flavor.
Cedar Grove Cheese
- Organic Cheese Maker
- Plain, WI
- 28 Employees
- Certified Organic since 1995
A family-owned cheese manufacturer producing both conventional and organic cheeses, including cow, sheep, and goat varieties. Small enough to design productions directly to a customer’s specifications, it makes specialty cheeses and produces in bulk for other companies to label and market.
Traditional Medicinals
- Organic Herbal Teas
- Rohnert Park, CA
- Certified Organic since 1995
An herbal tea company and early organic adopter, deeply committed to its source communities and organic teas. It sources organic botanicals from grower communities worldwide, treating those relationships as essential to its work, and advocates for organic on a broader scale beyond its own products.
Organically Grown Company
- Organic Produce Wholesaler & Distributor
- Portland, OR
- 260 Employees
- Certified Organic since 1998
An organic produce wholesaler and distributor sourcing certified organic fruits and vegetables domestically and internationally for retailers, restaurants, buying clubs, and processors. At its core a logistics operation, it also sorts, repacks, co-packs, and private-labels. Founded to support local organic growers, it is now purpose-trust owned, serving a mission rather than profit and committed to advancing organic.
Scratch & Peck Feeds
- Organic Livestock Feed
- Burlington, WA
- 30 Employees
- Certified Organic since 2013
A manufacturer of organic, non-GMO animal feeds built on near-food-grade grains rather than fillers, formulated for poultry, pigs, goats, and sheep. Its vision centers on health—for people, animals, and the land—and on encouraging wider adoption of organic agriculture through what it calls collective leadership.
Giant Jones Brewing Company
- Organic Brewery
- Madison, WI
- 4 Employees
- Certified Organic since 2019
A certified organic brewery run by women, specializing in strong beer styles such as barley wines and Belgian tripels, sold in returnable bottles. The focus on big beers lets it absorb the cost of organic ingredients. Its motivation is rooted in community, sustainability, and a belief in organic agriculture’s benefits for soil, water, and wildlife.