We’re bringing a new dimension to botanical supplements.

At Vital Plan, we believe you deserve to know exactly what goes into each of our bottles — and into your body. We pride ourselves on using transparent, honest labeling and optimal amounts of high-quality ingredients.

Our capsules are packed to the brim with standardized herbal extracts, utilizing proper plant parts and bioidentical vitamins and minerals. Every ingredient is rigorously tested at an independent laboratory for identity, purity, and potency before it can be included in a Vital Plan product, and each finished product is further validated for potency and purity before being sold.

When it comes to quality, we don’t skip any steps. Our employees and families take our products every day, and thousands of Vital Plan customers depend on our supplements to help reach their health goals. They put their trust in our team, and we take this responsibility very seriously.

PHYSICIAN OVERSIGHT

Our Medical Director, Dr. Bill Rawls, a medical doctor and expert in modern herbalism, leads the way in formulating every Vital Plan product. An avid researcher, he has focused his study on how active properties of herbs from multiple herbal traditions are defined by chemical compounds. Based on this broad scope of data, Dr. Rawls selects herbs for formulations according to the chemical properties they offer, allowing for unique synergies and greater benefits than are found in traditional herbal applications.

SELECTIVE SOURCING

Each ingredient that goes into our supplement line is hand-selected. We carefully evaluate and select the sources of our raw ingredients with attention to environmental factors that may influence their purity and potency, and go to great lengths to ensure that each herb is grown to meet our specifications. Our team gives strong preference to sustainable wild crafters and growers.

An example of this can be seen in our labeling, where we proudly display the potency of herbal extracts used.

BACKED BY RESEARCH

Beyond our focus on quality ingredients, Vital Plan consistently provides clinically-backed servings of each ingredient based on diligent research on both modern clinical studies and traditional population studies. Vital Plan’s open labeling policy reflects this, as we aim to inform with our transparent labeling.

PREMIER MANUFACTURING FACILITIES

At Vital Plan, we do our homework and establish partnerships with only the top vendors in the industry. Our extraction facilities and manufacturers are experienced in developing full-bodied botanical extracts, and they understand our demand to retain the complete matrix of active plant constituents. Our manufacturing partners continually surpass Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) to earn the highest certification ratings possible. This process includes third-party facility inspections and comprehensive quality tests for product batches at multiple levels of the production process.

THIRD PARTY TESTING

We heavily invest in third-party laboratory testing at two key junctures:

• Before beginning manufacturing, to ensure that the ingredients meet our specifications
• After manufacturing, to confirm the finished product meets our specifications

We consider this extra testing necessary because we’re very concerned about a practice called “skip lot testing” that’s rampant in the supplement industry. In theory, a company that does skip lot testing rigorously qualifies their suppliers through a series of tests, and then only checks on the suppliers and quality of their materials periodically (typically every 2-3 years). To us, that’s simply not enough to feel confident about what goes into every one of our bottles.

At Vital Plan, we’re proud to third-party test every ingredient lot before it is used in production for identity, potency, and purity. This helps us deliver a top-quality product that we can feel good about giving to our friends and family.

Here’s what we test for:

Identity

It may seem like common sense, but double-checking an ingredient’s identity is a step we’ve seen skipped too often. All Vital Plan ingredients are identity verified using state-of-the-art methodology and instrumentation.

For example, all of our botanical ingredients are identified by Alkemist Labs, an industry-leading botanical identity lab. They utilize HPTLC testing methods, the most appropriate equipment for botanical ID.

Microbiological Contaminants

All of our raw materials and finished products are tested for microbial contaminants. At minimum, we perform testing for total plate count, yeasts and mold, E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella. All testing is performed using appropriate USP/AOAC methods (or their equivalent) via third party ISO-certified labs. (These labs meet well-established quality management standards mandated by the worldwide International Organization for Standardization.)

Heavy Metals

We test all raw materials and finished products for heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury using ICP-MS equipment and USP/AOAC methods (or their equivalent) at third party ISO-certified labs.

Blend Consistency

While the method of verification may differ based on product format and ingredient make up, we make sure that each formula is manufactured to the proper specifications with in-house testing — such as Near Infrared Spectrometry for powder blends, and specific gravity for liquid blends — coupled with third-party verification of results.

Allergen Testing

Once manufacturing of a finished product is complete, each product lot is tested for unintentional cross-contamination of common allergens with the industry-leading allergen lab. Using ELISA allergen testing, we verify the absence of:

• Milk/Dairy (via beta-lactoglobulin)
• Fish (via cod parvalbumin protein)
• Eggs
• Gluten (via the R5 or G12 antibody)
• Shellfish (via mollusk protein and tropomyosin protein for crustacea)
• Peanuts
• Soy (via soy-trypsin-inhibitor protein)

To check a list of allergens a product has been tested to be free from, be sure to check out the product page.

Our Third Party Testing Partners:

In addition to a tight internal QC program, we’re actively involved with the following organizations to support a broader impact on quality and sustainability in the industry and world:

American Herbal Products Association

Vital Plan is actively involved with AHPA to help advance the herbal industry as a whole, both in terms of regulatory oversight and best quality control practices. AHPA helps Vital Plan stay vigilant on industry changes and concerns of supply chain integrity.

United Plant Savers

Vital Plan is involved with UpS to help support their mission of protecting medicinal plant species native to the United States and Canada, so these plants can continue to be cultivated for years to come!

B Corporation®

Learn more about our impact as a company and commitment to using business as a force for good.