The Standards
While the number of food manufacturers claiming to offer wholesome, healthy packaged foods is growing, there is no clear understanding of what constitutes healthy, “raw” and ”clean” foods. Also, more and more people are incorporating what they believe to be raw foods into their diets principally for health and taste reasons. But there is debate and confusion over what actually constitutes “raw” and what the characteristics should be to maintain a food’s ”raw” quality at point of sale and also protect consumers from food borne diseases. Leaders of the Raw Food community since the Fancy Food Show in 2014 have been working hard to define what is “raw” and “clean” and to create a certification program for the community to ensure compliance to move our rapidly growing industry forward.
We are pleased to announce that RawFoodCertified.Org, a 501(c) project of International Center for Integrative Systems, will be the home of this certification program. A series of meetings and public hearings have been held with Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, PhD., an MIT-trained scientist and systems biologist, leading the discussion and sharing our results and the steps that we can follow to gain certification for our products. We have been fortunate to get feedback from various parties including Go Raw, Raw One Food, Living Intentions, Alive and Radiant, Living Brands, Hail Merry, Whole Foods, Wonderfully Raw Gourmet, and Rhythm Superfoods, and many other scientists and health care practitioners, in developing this program.
This consensus-based standard’s criteria incorporate the inputs from the food stakeholder community of consumers, public interest groups, growers/farmers, food processors, trade associations, food retail stores, restaurants, regulatory agencies and academicians. The criteria focus on three categories – Safety, Minimal Processing and Bioavailability of nutrients, and defines two imprimaturs – Certified R.A.W.® and Certified C.L.E.A.N.®
Standards Version
Certified C.L.E.A.N.® /Certified R.A.W.® are consensus-based Standards that have been developed by the community of stakeholders in the food manufacturing industry to support the raw and clean food movement, reflecting a diverse range of perspectives. Beginning with the first public hearing on February 2, 2015, ongoing public hearings and Standards Committee meetings have been established as an important mechanism for keeping the standard current, transparent and adaptive. The most recent public hearing was held on Dec 9, 2021, and the most recent Standards Committee meeting was held on Dec 11, 2021.
Version 1.8 of the Certified C.L.E.A.N.® and Certified R.A.W.® Standards were published on February 15, 2022.
Version 1.7 of the Certified C.L.E.A.N.® and Certified R.A.W.® Standards were published on February 15, 2021.
Version 1.6 of the Certified C.L.E.A.N.® and Certified R.A.W.® Standards were published on February 15, 2020.
Critical Updates to the Standards
Subsequent to feedback from stakeholders during the Public Hearing IX held on December 9, 2021, following updates were approved by the Standards Committee on December 11 to the C.L.E.A.N.® & R.A.W.® Standards.
Section 5.1 of C.L.E.A.N.® & R.A.W.® Standards: Under the “Minimally Processed Criteria,” if the levels of pesticide/herbicide/fungicide in a product are below EPA and/or USDA NOP guidelines, then such product should satisfy the “Whole” and “Live” Criteria in C.L.E.A.N.® & R.A.W.® Standards, respectively. This change will expand the scope of the Standards to include products such as maple syrup, honey, etc.
Section 8.1 of C.L.E.A.N.® Standards: For dietary supplement, ANDI Score requirement is removed as it is only applicable to fruit and vegetables. Instead, alternate criteria such as ORAC value is considered to determine the nutrient density of the ingredient.
Section 5.3 of R.A.W.® Standards: Neither the completed packaged food nor any of the ingredients may be heated so that they have a temperature of 212ºF or higher. The exceptions to this are when Federal, State or local regulations legally require nuts (including peanuts) to be heated at or above 212ºF as a part flash pasteurization.
Version 1.8 of the Standards that includes the above changes was published on Feb 15, 2022.
Subsequent to feedback from stakeholders during the Public Hearing VIII held on December 10, 2020, following updates were approved by the Standards Committee on December 11 to the C.L.E.A.N.® Standards.
Appendix B of C.L.E.A.N.® Standards: Products containing cannabidiol (CBD) and derived from hemp will be eligible for Certified C.L.E.A.N.®
Section 2 of C.L.E.A.N.® Standards: The scope of Certified C.L.E.A.N.® Standards is updated to include animal based product.
Section 5.1 of C.L.E.A.N.® Standards: In dietary supplements, minerals are exempt from being required to be certified as Organic.
Version 1.7 of the Standards that includes the above changes was published on Feb 15, 2021.
Based on feedback from stakeholders during the Public Hearing VII held on December 6, 2019, following updates were approved by the Standards Committee on December 13 to the C.L.E.A.N.® & R.A.W.® Standards.
Subsequent to Public Hearing VII held on December 6, 2019, following updates were approved by the Standards Committee on December 13 to the C.L.E.A.N.® & R.A.W.® Standards.
Section 5.1 of C.L.E.A.N.® and R.A.W.® Standards: “Natural aquatic ingredients, like seaweed, or those developed using aquaculture, are exempt from being required to be certified as Organic.”
Version 1.6 of the Standards that includes the above changes was published on Feb 15, 2020.
C.L.E.A.N.® & R.A.W.® Standards were made compliant with FDA’s FSMA Final Rule for Preventive Controls for Human Food.
Version 1.5 of the Standards that includes the above changes was published on Feb 15, 2019.
On feedback from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA,) relevant sections of the Certified C.L.E.A.N. and Certified R.A.W. Standards were modified to reflect the below:
Version 1.4 of the Standards that includes the above changes was published on Jan 22, 2018.
Subsequent to Public Hearing IV on January 19, 2017, the following updates to the the Certified C.L.E.A.N. and Certified R.A.W. Standards were published on March 22, 2017:
To help the community clearly identify eligibility for Certified C.L.E.A.N. and Certified R.A.W., the documentation for the Standards was split into two – one for Certified C.L.E.A.N. and another for Certified R.A.W.
Change incorporated in Section 5.1 of C.L.E.A.N. and R.A.W. Standards: Natural aquatic ingredients, like seaweed, or those developed using aquaculture, are exempt from being required to be certified as Organic.
Restriction removed from requirement and documentation of C.L.E.A.N. certification
Key Elements of the Standards
The three unique core concepts defining this food certification are: (1) Safety, (2) Minimally Processed and (3) Bioavailable Nutrients.
Additional Resources
