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A short explanation why our organic shea butter is certified, what that means, and why this is is quite special. 

For us it is important that our organic shea butter is certified and that our clients can be sure about it. But what is the difference with other sellers of shea butters who also claim to have organic shea butter but are not certified? In a nutshell: we guarantee and proof that no preservatives, pesticides etc. can be found in our organic shea butter. 

Wanna know more? Here we go:  

Organic? Isn't shea butter always natural?
All our shea butters are pure and natural and a blessing for your skin: no additives or preservatives. Shea nuts are harvested from the shea tree which grows wild in Ghana's savannah region. The nuts are not harvested on a plantation.

Is 'natural' not enough? Why do you offer organic shea butter? 
The nuts for our organic shea butter are harvested in areas where there is no human activity that can harm nature. In these areas no farmers use fertiliser or pesticides and grow their crop underneath the shea tree, and certainly no industry and such. 
Another source of contamination is the Malaria Control Program of the Ghanaian authorities. On a large scale insecticides are used to fight malaria and we don't want traces of these chemicals in our shea butter. 

How can you guarantee this? The shea nuts are being collected all over the savannah. 
The organic certified shea butter is produced from nuts that are collected in wildlife reserves like the Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary in Northern Ghana. These area's are restricted for farmers or industry. This is monitored so we are sure the nuts from these area's are not contaminated.
Furthermore we made agreements with the Ghanaian authorities about where we store our shea nuts and shea butter. These places are not sprayed with insecticides during the anti-malaria campaigns. Needless to say we have taken the necessary measures to assure the malaria mosquito is not hiding in those locations.
We also made agreements with the women producing our organic shea butter. They wash their hands before working with the organic shea and it is not allowed to take home the organic nuts. This all is being monitored by Ecocert. (www.ecocert.com).

Do you check the quality of the shea butter yourself?
Once the shea arrives in The Netherlands it is being checked for contamination, impurities and the presence of unnatural components. This is done by Novalab (http://nofagroup.nl/nofalab/).

Also our distribution and storage in the Netherlands is organic certified. This means requirements are set for administration, storage and packaging. This part is checked by Skal: www.skal.nl

This looks rather complicated. How do all these other sellers of organic shea butter handle this? 
Often the organic shea butter you buy online is not certified. Probably pure and healthy though, because usually 'natural' is confused with organic. To be sure you buy an organic certified product you look for this organic label. 

And in case of doubt, you can check if the seller is certified on the website of the certifying body of its country. For The Netherlands that is Skal (skal.nl).
And... the use of 'organic' is protected; it is not allowed to label your products organic when these products are not certified.

You can find our organic products following this link: https://butterwise.myshopify.com/collections/organic

Choosing organic shea butter is choosing the most clean and pure shea butter you can find.

Cheers,

Team Butterwise

Jeroen next to a shea tree in Ghana