Nuherbs (San Leandro, CA) is marking its 45th year as a leading importer of Chinese herbal formulas and premium Chinese herbs with the notable achievement of FairWild certification for Schisandra. Led by Wilson Lau, the third generation of his family in the Chinese herb import trade, Nuherbs has been working toward this achievement for several years.
Schisandra chinensis is a climbing vine native to Northern China. Its clusters of small red berries are a mainstay of Chinese medicine as a revitalizing tonic. When overharvested, not only are the plants killed, but local wildlife suffers, disrupting the entire ecosystem that contributes to the health benefits of schisandra and threatens future harvests. FairWild certification, including on-the-ground audits, demonstrates that Nuherbs ensures collection of the schisandra the company supplies to its customers through certified sustainable ingredients supports, rather than disrupts, this ecosystem. This FairWild certification applies to the dried herb as well as processed ingredients such as extracts.
“Nuherbs long-term view in all of our decisions includes ensuring the botanicals we champion will be available for future generations, which is why working toward FairWild certification was important to us,” said Lau, president of Nuherbs. “We work directly with wildcrafters at the field level as a pathway to ensuring sustainable procurement.” Offering schisandra is not a recent development: Nuherbs has specialized in in schisandra since almost its inception. In fact, in one of his first books Andrew Weil mentioned Nuherbs as a great source for schisandra.
In addition to this sustainability certification, Nuherbs’ 2026 schisandra harvest will also be Certified Organic.
FairWild’s mission is to preserve and promote biodiversity, uphold and uplift human rights, and encourage and inspire traceability throughout all levels of the wild plant supply chain. An ingredient that is FairWild certified is one where its landscape is stewarded with care and consideration for the entire ecosystem, and workers’ rights are tantamount to supporting their livelihoods and traditions. The FairWild Standard is recognized as the best practice for wild plant sourcing by the Convention of Biological Diversity, the Sustainable Herbs Initiative, and recognized by Fair for Life. For an ingredient to be FairWild certified, annual onsite audits by authorized certification bodies are required.
“We are thrilled to work with a company like Nuherbs, which has sustainability built into its infrastructure,” said Deborah Vorhies, CEO of FairWild. “Wilson asks important questions about how the Nuherbs team can assure future generations, from the point of harvest to the consumer, access to wild ingredients like Schisandra. We are delighted to support Nuherbs on its sustainability journey and look forward to working together more in the future.”
“Although this year’s schisandra crop has already been sold through, we are having conversations with brands about next year’s crop,” Wilson said. “We are working on expanding these programs and invite industry members to partner with us for future advances in meeting consumers’ sustainability preferences.”
For more information, visit www.nuherbs.com.
