How Suppliers Are Guaranteeing Safe Kratom Products

Jemi Fischbach

• February 13, 2021

Taking the extra step to ensure customers are only getting high-quality, lab-tested Kratom is necessary not only for consumers’ health and safety, but also for the entire production cycle. The FDA has long stood against Kratom and associated businesses, even attempting to label it as a Schedule I controlled substance.

If Kratom is to stand a chance in the race to widespread availability, businesses that guarantee safety and produce high-quality products must be supported. While some businesses operate under the radar, selling counterfeit products, you can help keep the less reputable businesses from staining the Kratom name by supporting high-quality suppliers.

Figuring out if a Kratom supplier will be trustworthy will be a challenge, so it will take some investigating on your part. It would be best if you double-checked to make sure they are transparent about their operations, highlighting where the product is grown and how they are compensating their farmers in Southeast Asia. As these farmers play a critical role in maintaining a steady flow of high-quality Kratom, their well-being and livelihood must be prioritized by the supplier.

Not All Kratom Suppliers Offer High Quality

One thing you need to remember when buying Kratom is that not all suppliers are the same. Some of them want to make a profit and will sell products that may be expired or unsafe. These businesses fail to provide proper compensation to the farmers in Southeast Asia or go through lab testing. When you are buying Kratom, you need to make sure that you choose the right suppliers, which may take a bit more time. Thankfully there are organizations like the American Kratom Association that can help you make the right choice.

The American Kratom Association created the Kratom Consumer Protection Act, which offers up a legislation model that can help lawmakers and advocates create a framework for ensuring that access to Kratom is both safe and legal. A primary foundation of this Act relies on consumers to do their own research to make informed decisions when it comes to buying Kratom. Through personal research, consumers can steer clear of contaminated products that are impure and dangerous. This Act is also meant to combat some of the adverse claims the FDA has made, as their motivations could be politically and financially conflicted.

Purity Above All Else

Purity is vital when it comes to every Kratom product on the shelf. When a supplier guarantees that their products are 100% pure, they guarantee no other synthetic additives present. Many suppliers will cut their products with fillers and chemical elements that lessen the purity. It is these suppliers that are driving Kratom’s reputation into the ground.

High-quality Kratom comes directly from Southeast Asia. The mitragyna speciosa tree thrives in the moist and hot conditions prominent throughout this area in countries like Malaysia and Thailand. The tree is in the same family of plants (Rubiaceae) as the coffee plant and several medicinal plants.

For centuries, the indigenous communities in these areas have used Kratom as a staple in their medicinal practices, growing it in small backyard farms and harvesting it from trees growing wildly in the jungle. These same practices are continuing to be upheld by farmers in these rural areas. It is these farmers that reputable Kratom suppliers support through fair trade business practices.

Through proper harvesting and processing, the two active compounds mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine can be isolated and concentrated. These are the compounds responsible for Kratom’s therapeutic potential. Depending on the time of the harvest, the concentration of each of these compounds will vary.

Lab Testing

Through lab testing, a Kratom supplier can simultaneously check the levels of mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine while also ensuring that no bacteria or other contaminants have made it into the mix. Lab testing also helps manufacturers and vendors to determine the following information:

• The ratio mitragynine to 7-hydroxymitragynine
• The potency of the product
• The purity of the product

Farmers and vendors can take control of the alkaloids concentrations by tailoring the time of harvest. White veined leaves, the least mature leaves tend to have higher mitragynine concentrations, while the most mature, red-veined leaves tend to have higher conventions of 7-hydroxymitragynine.

Furthermore, the potency of the product relies on the freshness. Suppliers must keep their product stored and sealed correctly before selling, as the longer Kratom sits, the more likely it will become less potent.

The most critical phase of the process, lab testing, is responsible for guaranteeing purity, which keeps researchers and consumers safe.

Vendors Are Eliminating The Risk

Reputable vendors eliminate the risk of consumers getting their hands on unsafe products by ensuring lab-testing and operating fair trade businesses. By working with farmers who are carefully handpicking leaves while also overseeing each step of the production process, these vendors ensure that the Kratom available in the USA for research purposes is safe.