We’re committed to carrying an assortment that reflects the needs of the families we serve and comes from producers who share our mission. Here’s what we consider when stocking the Marketplace.
Before we add a new product, we form a direct relationship with the producer to ensure that their business and sourcing practices are in line with our uncommonly strict standards. All products and their sub-ingredients must meet them — our standards are consistent with everything we sell, including any items prepared by the Good Eggs Kitchen.
Transparency and labor practices
We’re always looking for producers who source via direct trade, or have knowledge of their suppliers’ sourcing practices and are able to disclose country of origin for internationally sourced ingredients. If a producer does not meet these standards, we aim to work with them on a timeline and a plan for moving towards them.
All products containing ingredients of international origin must come from producers who have filled out our Labor Practices Standards Questionnaire or can provide supporting documentation (eg. Fair Trade Certification) guaranteeing that they adhere to the following:
- No forced labor or human trafficking used directly or via their supply chain
- No prison labor used directly or via their supply chain
- No child labor used directly or via their supply chain
- All employees are paid at least minimum wage
- All contracted employees are paid at least minimum wage
- Regular labor practice audits of suppliers, where feasible, or signed affidavits that they also meet our labor standards.
- Producers must not discriminate in any employment practices, including hiring, based on any California protected class.
- Producers must create a workplace free of coercion and harassment. Employees must be treated with dignity and respect.
- Producers must have a reporting process that provides multiple accessible resources for reporting, including resources independent from management.
- Producers may not retaliate against employees for reporting harassment.
- Producers must promptly and thoroughly investigate claims of harassment.
- Producers must periodically train employees on harassment policies.
- Producers must provide employees with a safe working environment, following all applicable health and safety laws.
- Employees must be able to take sick leave when ill without retaliation.
- Employees must be able to unionize or otherwise collectively organize for their interests without retaliation.
Food safety & compliance
All producers we work with, whether direct or via centralized distribution, must provide proof of FSMA compliance, including 3rd party food safety audits of production facilities (as applicable).
Ingredient integrity
All the products we carry are free from artificial flavors, colors, and the ingredients specified in our unallowable list.
Any product in which meat is listed as the first ingredient, or is more than 50% of the product by volume must meet our animal-specific welfare standards.
If product is less than 50% meat by volume we still require disclosure and verification of the following baseline standards:
- Animals are raised free of confinement as defined by the USDA with meaningful outdoor access
- Animals are not raised on a CAFO/AFO as defined by the USDA (AFO: animals confined more than 45 days in a 12 month period; CAFO: an AFO with more than 1000 animal units)
- Animals are confined only when necessary.
- Responsible antibiotic and hormone usage.
- Animals have access to wholesome and nutritious feed, free of GMOs and animal by-products.
Any product in which fish or seafood is more than 50% of the product by weight or volume must meet our seafood-specific welfare standards.
If product contains fish or seafood byproducts totaling more than 5% of the total volume or weight of the finished good, producer must be able to provide information on the country of origin and a signed labor affidavit.
Eggs as an ingredient must be sourced in accordance with our specific egg criteria.
Dairy (including fluid milk, cheese, and other derivatives) as an ingredient must be sourced from dairy herds in accordance with the following baseline standards:
- Animals are not raised on a CAFO/AFO as defined by the USDA (AFO: animals confined more than 45 days in a 12 month period; CAFO: an AFO with more than 1000 animal units)
- All dairy animals have at least 4 hours of daily outdoor access to exercise areas, weather permitting.
- Usage of growth hormones and sub-therapeutic antibiotics is strictly prohibited.
- Individual animals that become sick or injured receive required antibiotic treatment and are removed from the production supply chain during the course of treatment
- All dairy animals are genetically selected for polled stock. If this isn’t possible, then the animals should be disbudded when they are younger than 6 weeks of age, with anesthesia for the procedure and afterward as necessary for pain management.
Palm Oil as an ingredient must be sourced from a 3rd-party certified sustainable source (eg. RSPO).
GMOs
We have implemented a sourcing system in which the following standards must be met:
- All producers must share proof of 3rd party non-GMO certification for their products or a letter of guarantee that products containing the following ingredients (canola, corn, sugar beets, soy, whole fruits & vegetables) are non-GMO certified.
- In accordance with our dairy and meat criteria, GMO-inputs in animal feed are not allowed.
- All products are free of ingredients produced via gene editing, which is also known as GMO 2.0 or CRISPR technology.
Every product we’ve added to our Marketplace since July 2018 meets these standards, and we are committed to reviewing all previously added products for compliance by the end of 2020.
Along with our baseline criteria, we also look to build enduring relationships with producers that are reshaping our food system for good. To that end, we prioritize businesses and suppliers that:
- Pay their employees a living wage.
- Carry third-party labor certifications such as Food Justice Certification, Fairtrade, Fair for Life, etc.
- Are certified B-Corp or are incorporated as Public Benefit Corporations.
- Have employee ownership or cooperative ownership structures.
- Share the cost of medical/dental/vision/other insurance benefits for both employee and their families.
- Undertake programs that give back to their immediate community.
- Promote practices that promote environmental sustainability and regenerative agriculture
- Conserve water usage and utilize renewable energy in production or processing
- Products are certified organic or utilize organic ingredients.
We also prioritize products that are certified organic or use organic ingredients. However, because we’re working with local and small-scale producers for which 3rd-party certification (such as organic) is often cost-prohibitive, we don’t require those certifications for these goods. In that case, we do obtain supporting documentation and written guarantees they meet our criteria as outlined above.