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
This video is about product formulation, the precise recipe of every ingredient and processing aid and how much of each goes into your product. It opens on why that recipe carries so much weight. Your formulation decides which composition category you land in, and that category decides what you can claim on the label. It follows the work from building a certifier-approved formulation, through the four composition categories for human food, into the exact math that sorts a product into one of them.
The organizing idea is that the product composition category is determined by precise calculation. The higher percentage categories are allowed to display the USDA organic seal but also come with tighter rules on the label, while the more flexible ones trade that freedom for weaker claims. Livestock feed runs on a separate track, with only two composition categories and every agricultural ingredient required to be organic.
Running underneath all of it is the point that the formulation is a living document you keep current and reconcile against your batch records. Watch this video when you are developing a product, reformulating, or working out which category a recipe qualifies for.
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.