What Is Chain of Custody in Natural Skincare Ingredients?

Chain of custody is the documented record of every step a natural ingredient passes through — from harvest to processing, packing, and shipping — and it is one of the most important questions a formulator or brand can ask of their supplier. For most commodity shea butter moving through multi-tier trading networks, no such record exists. Baraka Shea Butter maintains verifiable chain-of-custody documentation for every batch, sourced directly through the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Ghana's Upper West Region.

This article covers what chain of custody actually tracks, what questions it can answer about a specific batch, and why its absence is common across commodity supply chains. Formulators and small brands sourcing ingredients for their products can learn more about Baraka's bulk and wholesale supply and the cooperative relationships behind every batch in Baraka's fair trade story.

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