Why Country of Origin Doesn’t Tell the Full Story

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Where an ingredient comes from doesn’t automatically determine its quality, and Australia just got a huge wake up call from China.

Recently I came across a post titled, “China rejects Aussie produce due to glyphosate levels,” and what caught my attention wasn’t so much the headline itself, but the conversation underneath it. Given the perception many people in Australia and throughout the Western world have developed around products coming out of China, it was interesting to see so many supportive comments acknowledging the quality of Chinese produce, particularly certified organic agriculture, and recognising that China supplies an enormous amount of certified organic produce and ingredients to markets around the world.

The story is also a timely reminder of something we don’t talk about enough when discussing ingredient quality: how reliant conventional agriculture can be on agricultural chemicals. According to the Grains Research and Development Corporation, glyphosate is used to dry out around 95% of Australia’s mung bean crop before harvest, and in this particular case, testing reportedly found residues in mung beans from Queensland at five times China’s permitted maximum residue limit. That doesn’t automatically prove Australian conventional produce is inherently unsafe, nor does it mean every agricultural chemical is inherently bad, but it does demonstrate why chemical use, residue limits, application timing and farming practices matter when we talk about the quality of what eventually ends up in our food. In any event, it's something that I would like to avoid. It also reinforces why I’m so glad that from day one Augustine Approved never went down the conventional route when sourcing ingredients. Wherever possible, we chose certified organic or carefully sourced wild-harvested ingredients for many reasons, including a desire to minimise quality issues.

It made me think that this was probably a good opportunity to talk about something I’ve dealt with behind the scenes for many years, because when you manufacture certified organic supplements and skincare, particularly products people are trusting enough to give to their dogs every single day, sourcing ingredients is far more complicated than simply looking at the country of origin and deciding whether that country has a good or bad reputation.

How We Choose Ingredients at Augustine Approved

When I first started making products for dogs back in 2010, and in between one of our wrestling sessions I made Augustine a promise that became one of the foundations of Augustine Approved: I would find the best version of every ingredient I possibly could, and whenever certified organic was available and made sense for that ingredient, that was what I wanted to use. I wasn’t interested in finding the cheapest version that ticked a box on a formulation sheet, because if I was going to put my name behind something and recommend that people feed it to the dogs they love, I needed to be comfortable with what was actually going into it.

That philosophy sounds simple until you start buying ingredients from around the world, because the reality is that neither price nor country of origin tells you everything you need to know about quality. Sometimes the best ingredient I can find is grown right here in Australia and costs many times more than an imported alternative, while in other cases an ingredient grown overseas can be considerably better than what is commercially available locally. If you genuinely want the best, you have to be willing to look beyond assumptions and assess each ingredient on its own merits.

Certified Organic Calendula: Why Quality Can Vary Dramatically

Calendula is a great example of what I mean. Certified organic calendula flowers imported from Egypt can be available for somewhere around $30 per kilogram, and depending on the batch, by the time that product reaches Australia it can look tired, faded and washed out. Compare that with the Tasmanian-grown certified organic calendula we regularly purchase at around $300 per kilogram and visually the difference can be extraordinary, with bright, vibrant orange flowers that look alive and fresh rather than something that has spent a very long time making its way through the international supply chain. The more faded the calendula, the higher the chance that its beneficial properties have been reduced.

In that situation, spending ten times as much on the Australian ingredient makes sense to me because I can physically see and assess the difference in what we are receiving. We also use some Australian-grown ingredients that cost well over $1,000 per kilogram, so nobody could reasonably accuse us of avoiding Australian ingredients because of price. Where Australian growers are producing something exceptional, I’m incredibly proud to use it and support them, even when I am left with no choice but to pay the full $300 retail value because it is in such short supply, but that still doesn’t mean Australia automatically produces the best version of every ingredient on the planet.

Why Our Sunflower Lecithin Comes From China

Lecithin Powder is a good example from the other side of the equation. Over the years we’ve looked at different sources, suppliers and specifications, and the highest-quality lecithin we have found for our products comes from China. That can surprise people because there is still a tendency to assume that lecithin coming from somewhere like the United States or Germany must automatically be better than something coming from China. Ironically, while the US and Germany are two of the most recognised markets for supplying high-quality lecithin, most lecithin sold through suppliers in those countries can still originate from crops grown in China, with the final processing, packaging or distribution taking place elsewhere.

Chinese Mushroom Ingredients: Some of the Best and Some of the Worst

Mushrooms probably demonstrate this better than almost any ingredient category I work with. In my opinion, some of the finest mushroom ingredients in the world are being produced in China, and frankly, some of the worst are coming from there as well. This gets to the heart of what I’m trying to explain: judging quality purely by country of origin can give you a completely false sense of security.

Little Universe took nearly three years to bring to market, and a big part of that delay was simply trying to work out who was telling me the truth. I’ll be blunt: the mushroom industry in Australia felt like smoke and mirrors. I was misled on more than one occasion by Australian suppliers, and claims about where mushrooms were grown, how they were processed and what was actually in the finished ingredient were not always as straightforward as they first appeared. It took an enormous amount of digging, questioning, testing and homework before I was comfortable that I had found the sources I wanted to put my name behind.

China has an extraordinarily long history with mushrooms, stretching back well over a thousand years. In fact, China is one of the ancient centres of mushroom cultivation, and the documented cultivation of shiitake originated there more than 1,000 years ago. Mushrooms have also been used in Chinese food and traditional practices for centuries before many modern mushroom industries even existed. That depth of knowledge is one of the reasons China remains such an important part of the global mushroom industry today, with producers ranging from extremely sophisticated organic growers and extraction facilities through to low-cost commodity manufacturers.

Putting all of those producers into the same basket simply because they happen to operate within the same national border makes about as much sense as assuming every Australian farmer, food manufacturer or supplement company produces exactly the same standard of product. 

The Producer Matters as Much as the Country of Origin

What matters enormously to me is who is actually growing the ingredient, who is processing it, how they operate, what standards they work to, how long they have been doing it, what their testing looks like and, perhaps most importantly, whether their behaviour over many years gives me reason to trust them. Certificates matter and laboratory testing matters, but I also believe there is a part of responsible sourcing that comes from building genuine relationships with the people behind your ingredients.

Some of our supplier relationships have been built over many years. When you work with people for that length of time, you begin to understand how they think, what they are passionate about, whether they take pride in what they produce, how they respond when you ask difficult questions and whether they are prepared to provide the information you need rather than simply telling you what they think you want to hear. That relationship doesn’t replace independent testing or certification, but it adds another layer of accountability that I consider incredibly valuable.

Sourcing From China Is Not About Finding the Cheapest Ingredient

One thing I can assure people of is that sourcing certain ingredients from China has never been about finding a cheap shortcut for Augustine Approved. Premium organic ingredients from reputable growers and manufacturers can be expensive regardless of where in the world they originate, and when you add certification, specialised processing, testing, freight and relatively small premium-production runs, China does not automatically mean cheap any more than Australia automatically means expensive or superior. It is a fact that we would be saving money if we did not buy from China.

Why We Third-Party Test Our Products

This is also why we don’t simply take a supplier’s word for everything. They test, and we third-party test as well. During a recent Australian Certified Organic inspection, for example, a sample of our Little Universe mushroom supplement was taken straight from the shelf and sent away for testing. We subsequently published those results on the Little Universe product page because I’ve never believed there is any benefit in talking about transparency while keeping the evidence hidden somewhere nobody can see it.

For me, that is what transparency should actually look like. It isn’t pretending every ingredient comes from whichever country happens to look best in a marketing campaign, and it isn’t feeding into the idea that one country is automatically good while another is automatically bad. It means being prepared to explain where ingredients come from, why they were chosen, what standards we expect and what work happens behind the scenes before something becomes an Augustine Approved product.

The Highest Symbol of Quality

The longer I’ve worked in this industry, the more convinced I’ve become that consumers need to look beyond country of origin as a shortcut for quality. Of course origin matters because climate, soil, agricultural practices, environmental conditions and supply chains can all influence an ingredient, but origin is only one part of a much larger picture. Two ingredients grown in the same country can be worlds apart in quality depending on the producer, cultivar, harvest conditions, processing, storage and testing.

That is ultimately what I want the A+ symbol to represent. When somebody sees an Augustine Approved product, I want them to know that somebody has already done the homework, asked the questions, looked at the supplier, considered the source and made the decision based on what we genuinely believe is the best ingredient we can obtain rather than what makes the easiest marketing story.

I don’t expect anybody to blindly trust a logo, a company or a person simply because they say they care about quality, which is why I’m happy to talk openly about how we source our ingredients and answer questions when people have them. If something comes from Tasmania, I’m proud to tell you it comes from Tasmania, and if the ingredient I believe is the best for the job comes from China, I’m equally comfortable telling you that and explaining exactly why we chose it.

If you have questions about one of our ingredients or products, you’re always welcome to get in touch and let’s see if I can help.

Till next time, hug your dog for me.

Quick Summary

Country of origin can tell you something about an ingredient, but it cannot tell you everything about its quality. At Augustine Approved, ingredients are selected according to factors including the grower or producer, ingredient quality, certified organic status where available, processing, storage, supplier standards, long-term relationships and testing rather than simply choosing an ingredient because it comes from a particular country.

Some of the highest-quality ingredients we use are grown in Australia, including Tasmanian certified organic calendula, while other ingredients we believe are exceptional come from overseas, including lecithin and mushroom ingredients sourced from China. The important distinction is not simply whether an ingredient comes from Australia, China or somewhere else, but who produced it, how it was produced, what standards were followed and whether the finished ingredient meets the quality we expect.

Augustine Approved also uses third-party testing alongside supplier testing and organic certification. The aim is simple: when you see the A+ symbol on an Augustine Approved product, we want you to know that the sourcing, supplier selection and quality homework has already been done.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does country of origin determine the quality of a dog supplement ingredient?

No. Country of origin is one factor worth considering, but it does not determine ingredient quality by itself. Quality can vary enormously between growers, manufacturers and processors operating within the same country, which is why factors such as production standards, harvesting, processing, storage, certification and testing also matter.

Are ingredients from China automatically lower quality?

No. China produces ingredients across an enormous range of quality levels. In our experience, some exceptionally high-quality ingredients are produced in China, particularly within categories such as lecithin and mushrooms, while lower-quality products are also available. This is why we believe the individual producer and their standards matter more than making assumptions based purely on the country.

Why does Augustine Approved source some ingredients from China?

We source ingredients according to the best quality we can find rather than choosing a country for marketing purposes or to save money. For some ingredients, the highest-quality option we have found comes from China, while for others the best option comes from Australia or another part of the world.

Does Augustine Approved prefer Australian-grown ingredients?

We are proud to use Australian-grown ingredients when they meet the quality we are looking for, and we pay considerably more to do so. Our Tasmanian certified organic calendula is one example. However, being Australian-grown does not automatically make an ingredient superior, so every ingredient is considered on its individual merits.

Why is certified organic important to Augustine Approved?

Certified organic production provides an additional level of oversight and traceability, which is why we use certified organic ingredients whenever they are available and appropriate for the product. Certification is important, but it is still only one part of how we assess ingredient quality.

Does Augustine Approved third-party test its products?

Yes. Supplier testing is important, but we also use third-party testing. During a recent Australian Certified Organic inspection, a sample of our Little Universe mushroom supplement was taken directly from the shelf for testing, and we published the results on the product page.

Why can two certified organic ingredients look or perform differently?

Organic certification does not mean every ingredient will be identical. Differences in cultivar, climate, soil, harvest timing, processing, age, transportation and storage can all affect the finished ingredient, which is why we assess more than certification alone.

Are expensive ingredients always better?

No. Price alone does not prove quality. Some premium ingredients cost substantially more because of growing conditions, certification, specialised processing, limited supply or production standards, but an expensive ingredient still needs to be assessed on its actual quality.

What does the Augustine Approved A+ symbol mean?

The A+ symbol represents the standard we aim to apply when deciding whether a product or ingredient is Augustine Approved. It means we have looked beyond the marketing story and considered the source, supplier, production standards, quality and all other important factors that matter before putting the Augustine Approved name behind it.

What should dog owners look for when assessing supplement ingredient quality?

Rather than relying only on country of origin, look at who produced the ingredient, where and how it was grown, whether appropriate certification exists, how it was processed and stored, what testing has been performed, how transparent the company is about its sourcing, and whether the company can explain why it selected that particular ingredient.