Traceability: How We Define it, and Why It's So Important

We’ve always insisted that people deserve to know what they’re putting into their bodies and why. As a company built for skeptics, by skeptics, it’s something that we saw as lacking—and something we set out to change by example. It meant questioning everything from the way nutrients are sourced and how different forms work in the body, to the environmental impact of the typical supply chain and the materials used to ship thousands of orders.

We continue to obsess over every single one of these details—but a big part of doing better for our customers and the planet is lifting the curtain to our decision-making process. This is Traceability, and it’s at the core of everything we do.

What is Traceability?

We define Traceability as a sense of accountability when it comes to the impact we have on our customers and the planet. It’s why we insist on an open dialogue with our Ritual fam. It’s why we leave no stone unturned when it comes to the research that grounds our products, and make every effort to share that essential knowledge with you. And it’s why you can trace the decision-making process behind our ingredients, from scientist to supplier to the countries they’re sourced from.

It all comes back to empowering our customers with the information they need to feel amazing about the multivitamins they’re taking every day—and from our POV, that means inviting you into the decisions we make as a brand.

Our Traceable Supply Chain

Guesswork doesn’t belong on your vitamin label. Part of knowing what’s going into your body is being able to trace where those ingredients come from—which is why we’ve made it easy for you from the very beginning.

We don’t just tell you, for example, that we include omega-3 DHA sourced from microalgae. We explain that this microalgae is grown in sustainable plots in Saskatoon, Canada—and we put a face to the manufacturing partner and scientific team that oversees this process. Then we direct you to all the research that explains why we opted for this specific source of omega-3 fatty acid. In some cases, we even show you the clinical impact of our formula on nutrient levels in the body.*

That’s Traceability in a nutshell: allowing you to track the journey of a single nutrient from its source to how it’s designed to work in your body (and not sparing details in the process).

Sustainable Steps Forward

To us, the health of our customers and the health of our environment go hand in hand. That’s why our mission around Traceability goes far beyond the scope of our ingredients and the way our products are formulated to work—we want you to know that we’re obsessing over everything we put into the world, from the materials of our bottle to the ink we use on our mailers (seriously—it’s plant-based!).

It’s not always easy to sleuth down materials that are better for the planet but at the same time, don’t sacrifice the quality of our product. But that’s a challenge we’re more than willing to tackle head-on, and while there’s always progress to be made, we’ve been able to take some major steps. Consider our mailer: We used to send your multivitamin order in a box every month, but we weren’t happy with the environmental footprint. After transitioning over to bubble mailers (for all orders after your first month), we recently made the switch to padded envelopes made entirely from recycled newspapers and plant fibers. Our bottles are now made from 100% recycled content as well.

That puts our entire mailing experience at approximately 85.5% recycled materials in the month of April 2020, and we’re excited to bring that number to 100% over the coming months.

Our Carbon Offsetting Program

Every month, your Ritual order travels from our fulfillment center to your doorstep—and we wanted to work to erase the carbon footprint of that journey. That’s why we’re proud to announce our new Carbon Offsetting Program: As a Carbonfree® Shipping Partner with Carbonfund.org, we’re able to offset the environmental cost of shipping with donations towards sustainability initiatives like renewable energy, reforestation, and more. It’s something else you can feel good about when your order arrives.

A Traceable future.

We’ve embraced the spirit of Traceability from the very beginning—it is, after all, the major gap we saw. But a huge part of this mission is the understanding that it’s an endless opportunity to do better. We’re excited to keep improving, and to maintain our open-door policy every step of the way.