Fresh Unlimited is a gifts company focusing on organic gourmet foods as well as exquisite giftware made in an environmentally and or socially responsible way. Food items include and assortment of decadent gourmet treats such as organic chocolate truffles, chocolate bars, butter cookies, biscotti as well as organic savory delicacies such as crackers, pates, tapenade, coffee. Giftware items include organic spa/body care items, baby gift ideas including stuffed toys and clothing made with organic cotton and organic baby skin care products as well as home decor items featuring glassware made with recycled glass, beeswax candles, candle holders ....
OUR GREEN POLICY In a sense the “existence” of Fresh Unlimited is our green policy. We created Fresh Unlimited to provide consumers with green versions of high quality conventional giftware and gourmet foods that are comparable, if not superior, in terms of quality, beauty, style and decadence. Ultimately we hope to raise awareness about green gift and organic gift options in the hope that more consumers will start demanding that the goods they purchase be sustainable. This in turn would encourage even more variety and options.
Gourmet Foods / Organic Food Food is always a pleaser, but really good, authentic, food is absolutely irresistible. We believe foods made with organic ingredients (that don’t contain chemical residues) are superior to foods made with ingredients that were grown using synthetic chemical herbicides and pesticides, both when it comes to their flavor as well as to our health. Why else would some of the world’s greatest chefs choose organic ingredients for their creations?
In selecting gourmet foods we look for Organic and GMO-free products that are made, for the most part, by artisans who have a passion for what they do. We have not limited our options only to products that have an official organic certification. There have been some concerns about the politicization of these certification processes. As well, there are a number farmers who believe in and follow the organic farming philosophy but just don’t have the time or the money required to undergo the certification process.
GMO Products Are Not Labeled Unlike in Europe, there are no regulations in North America that require food manufacturers to label their products if they contain GMO ingredients. Because of this, we have to verify directly with the manufacturer whether their products possibly contain GMO ingredients. If the manufacturers are not able to assure us that their products are GMO-free, they will not be included in our selections.
It’s also important to note that foods that are certified as organic cannot include any GMO ingredients. GMO (genetically modified organisms) are also known as GE (genetically engineered) or transgenic. (More on the dangers of GMOs here).
Organic Skin Care When it comes to our spa /skin care products, we look for items made with organic ingredients. Our skin is our largest organ and it is porous. This means everything we put on it gets absorbed into our system including the chemical preservatives that are found in most skin care products.
Choosing organic skin care products means that only the purest plant ingredients get absorbed into our systems where they can nourish and restore.
Baby Organic Skin Care The same information applies to babies’ skin but is even more important as babies’ skin is more delicate and their systems are small and brand new.
Organic Fabric Currently, our collection includes: bathrobes, towels, baby wear/toys, golf wear i.e. Polo shirts, ball caps. When we include such items in our collection we look to make sure that they are made with either organic cotton, or one of the other sustainable fabrics such as hemp, eco silk...
Cotton is the main organic fabric that is currently available. The conventional cotton farming industry uses about 11% of the world’s pesticides. Some of these pesticides have been classified as toxic or carcinogenic by the US Environmental Protection Agency. This affects the land, the farm hands who come into contact with these chemicals, as well as the resulting cotton fabric.
Choosing organic cotton is better for the land, the workers and those who wear it, including and especially babies.
Giftware When selecting items to include in our giftware collection we look for pieces that have either been fair traded, made with recycled material, made with renewable materials and/or handcrafted. These are items that have been created by artisans who have a passion for their craft and for the planet that we share.
Packaging We believe that a gift should look as good on the outside as it does on the inside and we will not compromise on that. Although the packaging materials we use to create a visually appealing and distinctive presentation may not always be made of 100% recycled material, they are all recyclable and oftentimes reusable.
Currently the containers we use for our gift baskets include handcrafted lidded boxes made with sustainable wood as well as lidded boxes made with seagrass (a renewable resource).
With every year that goes by, more sustainable packaging options are coming on stream. We are committed to incorporating these as they become available. One such example is cellophane. We have recently switched to the new eco cellophane for our gift baskets and look forward to more developments including eco friendly inks.
A last word on our philosophy about environmental concerns over shipping
We are aware that there are some people, at the more extreme end of the environmental movement, who believe that any kind of shipping is wasteful and that we should only consume local products. While we do encourage the consumption of local products whenever possible, this is not always doable or desirable.
We believe that a fundamental part of the human condition is to explore, to create, and to share. This is something that’s clearly evident and we don’t believe that it’s something that can or will be reversed. People will continue to explore the world and share their cultures as well as the various creations that result from these different cultures. We are proud of the small role we play in the sharing of various treasures from around the world.
The couriers we work with have adopted environmental policies to try and minimize their carbon footprint. Although we applaud their efforts, we believe a greater focus needs to be placed on technology to develop power sources that have a negligible impact on the environment that would provide us with the energy we need to travel/transport, explore and create...
One such technology we have become aware of involves air compression. It is clean and would require much less of an infrastructure investment than electric vehicles. If you’d like to learn more about this check for information about magnetic air cars.
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