Cramp Bark Sourcing Issues: Identification Failures

Why couldn’t we use Cramp Bark in our Women’s PMS formula? We couldn’t find any viable material. The herbal supply chain is complex and every botanical comes in multiple forms. We wanted the bark material, in which we were unable to find a viable finished powder or finished extract source. We had companies willing to sell us Cramp Bark. What happened?

There are a variety of possible issues here to cause supply chain issues. There has been labor loss, destruction of habitats from natural disasters, etc. We have to verify that no matter where these powders and extracts come from. When we reached our Tier  II suppliers we knew from our qualification process that they were not selling actual cramp bark. We tested 40 Cramp Bark samples, a new record for Redd Remedies, and these samples failed ID testing. Therefore, we had to reject that sample material.