LOS ANGELES
Joolies, California's newest organic medjool date company, announced today that they are the most recent addition to a select group of 40 brands to receive the prestigious Glyphosate Residue Free Certification by The Detox Project and the first farm to have its harvest certified.
This award acknowledges that neither Joolies' 500-acre date palm ranch, nor its products contain the world's most used herbicide, glyphosate.
Concerns about glyphosate on food has been a hot topic in the United States recently, with California legislators adding it to the Prop 65 list in July 2019. When Joolies began farming nearly two decades ago, their founders were ahead of clean food trend by refusing to use pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides from early on.
In 2015 the World Health Organizaton's cancer body IARC determined that glyphosate, a widely used weed killer, is probably carcinogenic to humans. David Kohl, Co-Founder of Joolies and owner of Kohl Family Farm, insists that Glyphosate Residue Free certification is imperative as chemicals and pesticides are widespread across the food chain. We want our dates to be free of all chemicals. Zero is the only acceptable number for feeding our families.
Glyphosate-free certifications are a natural evolution as the growing consciousness and desire for organic food and beverage products grows. Since consumers themselves cannot discern which products are as healthy and toxic-free as the branding claims, The Detox Project plays an important role in researching and certifying which foods are free of glyphosate residues.
It is very exciting that some farms are now certifying their harvests, says Henry Rowlands, Founder of The Detox Project, and Joolies is indeed the first. There were some ingredients suppliers, however you are the first farm producer to certify.
Joolies is extremely proud to have received the Glyphosate Residue Free Certification, added Kohl. We stand strongly behind The Detox Project's mission to encourage transparency in the food and beverage industry, and we hope that this high standard will someday soon become the new normal. As news of the certification became official, Joolies wanted to drive awareness and immediately differentiate quality with packaging updates, which will now showcase the The Detox Project's Glyphosate Residue Free seal on the front of pack, as well as a mention on the side and back of the box.
