Certifications

Draco Natural Products is proud to hold and maintain a full set of the most important world class manufacturing quality certifications and memberships. We always go the extra mile to give you the assurance that our botanical extract ingredient products are of utmost quality, safety and purity.

Good Manufacturing Practices

Draco’s processing facility is certified for Food Grade cGMP’s. Legitimate US suppliers of ingredients for dietary supplements are required to comply with GMP regulations, and Draco is no exception. Draco’s GMP certification is conducted by Swiss based SGS.

USDA NOP Organic Certification

  Draco’s manufacturing facility is properly certified organic to  USDA’s NOP (US Dept. of Agriculture’s National Organic Program), which is the standard accepted in North America for organic certification.  All Draco finished extract ingredient products that are produced from only certified organic botanical sources are certified organic finished extracts. Organic certification for the USDA NOP program is performed by French company Ecocert. 

European ECC834:2007 Organic Certification

Draco’s manufacturing facility is also certified organic to European ECC834:2007 by French company Ecocert.  This is the principal form of organic certifications for products being sold into the European market.

SQF Certification 

Draco has successfully completed the Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification of its manufacturing facilities through SGS Systems, Australia division. The specific level of certification is the SQF Food Safety Code for Manufacturing, edition 8.1, tailored for food manufacturers and distribution networks.

The SQF program is a rigorous farm-to-fork food safety and quality certification that helps food producers assure buyers that their food products meet the highest possible global food safety standards. The program is designed to meet industry, customer, and regulatory requirements for all segments of the food supply chain, from the farm to the retail stores.  SQF certification utilizes a HACCP based approach to ensure that end products meet all relevant regulations. HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) is an essential requirement for modern food handing and safety.  SQF was first developed in Australia in 1994 and has widespread acceptance in the United States.

The process of setting up the SQF comprehensive food safety management system included a thorough examination of all processes and product quality control standards. Maintaining it requires yearly auditing, along with continual updates and employee training to guarantee ongoing compliance, and improve process management by helping to identify and manage risk while providing proof of due diligence. 

GFSI Compliance

Draco’s SQF Certification is officially recognized internationally by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).  This effectively extends Draco’s SQF certification to a global customer base. 

ISO 9001:2015 Certification

In 2001, Draco’s state-of-the-art 125,000 square foot manufacturing facilities were built from the ground up specifically to conform to ISO9001:2015 quality standards. Certification was performed by top certifier Norwegian DNV (Det Norske Veritas), and is now maintained with quality audits every 6 months by world renowned SGS.

UKAS Accreditation

SGS also provides Draco with UKAS accreditation. UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) is a non-profit firm in the UK that works in close conjunction with almost a dozen government agencies to assess, against internationally agreed standards, organizations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services. Widely accepted in Europe, UKAS Accreditation demonstrates the competence, impartiality and performance capability of these evaluators.

Kosher Certification

For an additional assurance of quality and purity, Draco’s manufacturing facility and all raw materials processed within are Kosher certified by Canadian BCK (British Colombia Kosher). Kosher processing specifies standards for purity and sanitation, such as separation of plant and animal processing and stringent insect control.

Halal Certification

Draco’s Manufacturing facilities and products are Certified Halal.  Our Halal certification is from IFANCA (Islamic Food And Nutrition Council of America) and it certifies that our products are “Halal” or “lawful” according to islamic law.  All foods are considered halal except the following, which are “haram” (prohibited.):

• Swine/Pork and its by-products
• Animals improperly slaughtered or dead before slaughtering
• Alcoholic drinks and intoxicants
• Carnivorous animals, birds of prey and certain other animals
• Foods contaminated with any of the above products.

Ecovadis Sustainability Certification

Draco uses EcoVadis to ensure sustainability compliance. Since its founding in 2007, Ecovadis has grown to become the world’s largest and most trusted provider of business sustainability ratings, creating a global network of more than 75,000 rated companies that partner with EcoVadis to collaborate on sustainability with a common platform, universal scorecard, benchmarks and performance improvement tools.. It envisions a global marketplace where sustainability intelligence influences every business decision – improving economies, people’s lives and the planet we all depend on. The EcoVadis sustainability assessment methodology is at the heart of the Ratings and Scorecards and is an evaluation of how well a company has integrated the principles of Sustainability/CSR into their business and management system.

US FDA FSMA Compliance

Draco is fully compliant with the United States FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), a mandate to better protect public health by strengthening the food safety system. It enables companies in partnership with FDA to focus more on preventing food safety problems rather than relying primarily on reacting to problems after they occur. It is designed to achieve higher rates of compliance with prevention- and risk-based food safety standards and to better respond to and contain problems when they do occur. The law also gives FDA important new tools to hold imported foods to the same standards as domestic foods and directs FDA to build an integrated national food safety system in partnership with state and local authorities.  The mandate requires comprehensive, science-based preventive controls across the food supply. This includes: Mandatory preventive controls for food facilities: Food facilities are required to implement a written preventive controls plan. 

Memberships

REACH Compliance

Draco’s botanical extracts have also been registered for REACH compliance in Europe. REACH (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals) was put into effect in the EU in 2007, requiring manufacturers to submit physical, chemical and toxicological data on substances produced or imported above a certain threshold usage volume, throughout the life of the product. We have established a program to register our products for our European customers.

Bioterrorism Precautions

Because we process our products in China, and our primary market is in the US, all Draco shipping and warehousing procedures are in strict compliance with the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (the Bioterrorism Act). This added layer of inspection and documentation provides you with added assurance against the possibility of contamination or adulteration.