01. Are the Food Ingredients Organic?
The Nature's Food Wholefoods products use all natural, GMO-free whole food ingredients without any artificial flavorings, artificial colorings, artificial sweeteners, or any type of chemical preservatives.  

Nature's Food / Wholefood Farmacy is currently working with a USDA approved certifying agency, and is in the process of obtaining USDA Organic certification for their food products. Their goal is to have the organic certification completed during the first quarter of 2007. Once certification is completed, Wholefood Farmacy will feature the official USDA Organic logo on the website and on product packaging


02. Are All of the Food Products Raw?
The ingredients in our products are raw with the exception of our roasted corn products or products whichwhich contain the roasted corns. The products which are not raw are:

* Cornaborealis
* Cornucopia
* Corn of Plenty
* Veggielicous spice

Some products contain cashews which are removed from the shell using a steam process. The cashew nuts can reach temperatures of up to 140 F during this process. They do not necessarily reach that temperature, however, it is possible.


03. How Are the Foods Dried?
Our food products are dried in a process of lyophylization, in sublimated water vapor. This process involves drying in a low temperature AND low pressure environment. With this process, enzymes, nutrition, shape, and flavor are retained.

Because lyophilization is the most complex and expensive form of drying, its use is usually restricted to delicate, heat-sensitive materials of high value. Lyophilization is a process which extracts the water from foods and other products so that the foods or products remain stable and are easier to store at room temperature (ambient air temperature).

Lyophilization is carried out using a simple principle of physics called sublimation. Sublimation is the transition of a substance from the solid to the vapor state, without first passing through an intermediate liquid phase.


04. Do the Foods Need to Be Refrigerated?
The only product that recommend be refrigerated is the JOULE, especially after opening. All of our other food products have been preserved through the natural preservation process of drying.

Refrigerating can cause condensation adding moisture content to the foods. The foods should be kept as dry as possible. The optimal method of storage is keeping the foods in a cool, dry, and dark location


05. What is the Shelf Life of the Foods?
The shelf life of our food products is approximately 30 to 60 days if stored in a cool, dry, and dark location. We recommend ordering only what you can reasonably expect to consume within 30 days. In the summer months, if taking the foods with you in the car, we recommend storing them in a small cooler and out of direct sun light if possible - the cooler will keep the heat out - there is no need to put ice in the cooler, just a clean dry cooler will protect the foods from excessive heat. Keeping the cooler in the trunk or out of direct sun light also helps. Similarly, in the winter months, the cooler will protect the foods from freezing.

If you are planning on keeping the foods on hand for extended periods of time it would be a good idea to store them in some sort of air tight container or even some larger zip loc bags for extra protection. The only product that we recommend be refrigerated is the JOULE, especially after opening.


06. How Are the Foods Prepared?
We start with the finest whole foods available which we obtain from vendors around the world who are able to supply whole food ingredients to our exacting specifications.  At the point of harvest, each ingredient is carefully cleaned using high pressure water and gentle friction (scrubbing) to remove dirt and dust from the field.  From there, the food ingredients are quarantined for 48 hours while the appropriate bacteriological culture tests are made.  Once the ingredients pass that test, they are sent to our manufacturing facility in Rogersville, TN.  Each whole food ingredient starts its Wholefood Farmacy journey by going through our receiving department where each ingredient is carefully inspected for cleanliness and freshness.  From there, the foods make their way to our production dept. where they are handcrafted into the various foods that we offer, they are then hand packaged and taken to our shipping dept. to fill your orders. 
 
Our manufacturing facility is a fully licensed, approved, and certified USDA food manufacturing facility. Our manufacturing process meets or exceeds all safety requirements necessary for a UDSA licensed manufacturing facility.  The USDA conducts regular inspections of our facility to ensure compliance on a regular and ongoing basis.


07. Can Diabetics Eat the Foods?
In our society diabetes is caused by primarily by ingesting high levels of un-natural processed sugars such as white table sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. These types of sugars (simple carbohydrates) are much smaller, on the molecular level, and therefore cross the blood-brain barrier extremely fast. The brain interprets this enormous rush of sugar as trauma and instantly signals the pancreas to over-produce insulin to lower the blood sugar levels. The body was not designed to ingest these un-natural types of sugars and attempts to combat them by producing insulin. This constant stimulation of the pancreas, over time, simply causes it to wear out – the medical community calls this condition type 2 diabetes. In one sense, un-natural sugars wear out the pancreas just like cigarettes wear out the lungs.

Natural sugars, like the sugars found in fruits, are known as complex carbohydrates. The body was designed to ingest them. They are much larger molecules and cross the blood brain barrier very slowly. They cause the brain to signal the pancreas to produce glucagons which create a feeling of energy and well being. All of our products contain only natural, raw, complex, large molecule sugars. We have received a lot of feedback from diabetics who have eaten these foods. Typically, they report that their sugar levels spiked during the first three, or so, days and that when they reached days four or five, that their sugar levels had stabilized. In some cases their doctors stopped their medications. As always, we strongly recommend that anyone with specific medical concerns consult their doctor prior to any changes in diet, medication, or lifestyle.