Hain Celestial Personal Care Products

MELVILLE, N.Y., March 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: HAIN), a leading natural and organic products company providing consumers with A Healthy Way of Life™, today reiterated its commitment to creating personal care products that fulfill consumers' demand for performance, safety and purity in advance of the Natural Products Expo West trade show in Anaheim, California.

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"With a combined 120 years of experience, Hain Celestial Personal Care has established itself not only as a market leader for our retailer partners, but as a trusted resource for natural consumers," said Emma Froelich, Vice President—Marketing—Personal Care at Hain Celestial.  "We continually work with our ingredient suppliers to evaluate safe, new and efficacious ingredients. Our respect for human and environmental health also incorporates ethical and sustainable agricultural and business practices, including organic farming."

Unlike organic food and beverages, the United States Department of Agriculture ("USDA") has not created specific organic standards for formulating and labeling personal care products that contain organic ingredients.  Hain Celestial would like to use the Natural Products Expo West trade show as an opportunity to announce its strong support of the National Organic Standards Board recommendation of November 5, 2009 that the USDA National Organic Program initiate a rulemaking process and develop specific standards for personal care products that contain organic ingredients. "The NOSB's recommendation is a responsible first step in a process to create a sector-specific standard for the personal care category, one that recognizes its unique ingredients and processes," said Emma Froelich.  

As happens when any product standard is in process, there are policy discussions regarding the specifics of the final rule.  However, certain industry participants in the personal care market sector do not want to participate in the policy debate and instead seek to exploit the absence of a single federal standard by claiming that their products are "more organic" than competing products.  Using this tactic, Hain Celestial's competitors have attempted to disparage two of the Company's personal care brands, JASON® and Avalon Organics®.

"We intend to be an active participant in the process of developing standards surrounding the use of the term 'organic' for personal care products.  Until federal organic standards are established, however, it is up to all of us in the industry to work together to impose the highest possible standards for label integrity and consumer clarity.  Hain Celestial will do so proudly across our JASON®, Alba Botanica®, Avalon Organics®, and Zia Natural® brands," concluded Emma Froelich.

The entire Hain Celestial personal care portfolio, including Alba Botanica®, Avalon Organics®, JASON® and Zia Natural Skincare® will be showcased at the Expo West show in Anaheim, California, March 12 - 14. In advance of the exhibition, Hain Celestial provides an explanation of its overall mission and the specific direction for JASON® and Avalon Organics® brands.

JASON®

The JASON® brand, which has been a leading natural brand since 1959, offers a great value for families looking for Everyday Natural Care™ alternatives in personal care. To highlight the brand's position in the natural category, JASON® product packaging is already being redesigned to emphasize its use of natural, not organic, ingredients.

Avalon Organics®

The Avalon Organics® brand is devoted to Consciousness in Cosmetics™ and features a wide range of organic ingredients, including our signature organic essential oils.  All of the organic ingredients in Avalon Organics®, and in all of the Company's personal care products, meet all federal requirements for organic ingredients in food products.  They are certified organic by organizations including Quality Assurance International (QAI), Oregon Tilth, EcoCert and many other respected third-party organic certification agencies.

The Hain Celestial Group

The Hain Celestial Group (NASDAQ: HAIN), headquartered in Melville, NY, is a leading natural and organic products company in North America and Europe. Hain Celestial participates in many natural categories with well-known brands that include Celestial Seasonings®, Terra®, Garden of Eatin'®, Health Valley®, WestSoy®, Earth's Best®, Arrowhead Mills®, MaraNatha®, SunSpire®, DeBoles®, Gluten Free Cafe™, Hain Pure Foods®, Hollywood®, Spectrum Naturals®, Spectrum Essentials®, Walnut Acres Organic®, Imagine®, Rice Dream®, Soy Dream®, Rosetto®, Ethnic Gourmet®, Yves Veggie Cuisine®, Granose®, Realeat®, Linda McCartney®, Daily Bread™, Lima®, Grains Noirs®, Natumi®, JASON®, Zia® Natural Skincare, Avalon Organics®, Alba Botanica®, Queen Helene®, Tushies®, TenderCare® and Martha Stewart Clean™. Hain Celestial has been providing "A Healthy Way of Life™" since 1993.  For more information, visit www.hain-celestial.com.

SOURCE The Hain Celestial Group, Inc.