Nuherbs Celebrates 45th Anniversary with Schisandra FairWild Certification

Nuherbs, a third-generation family-owned Chinese herb supplier, is marking its 45th year in business with FairWild certification for its Schisandra products, which took several years to achieve.

Scisandra chinensis is a climbing vine native to northern China. Its clusters of small red berries are used as a revitalizing tonic in Chinese medicine. Overharvesting of this plant impacts local wildlife, disrupts the ecosystem, and threatens future harvests.

FairWild certification, which includes in-person audits, demonstrates that Nuherbs’ operations support the ecosystem, rather than disrupt it. The certification applies to Nuherbs’ dried herb and processed ingredients like extracts.

“Nuherbs long-term view in all of our decisions includes ensuring the botanicals we champion will be available for future generations, which is why working towards FairWild certification was important to us,” said Wilson Lau, President of Nuherbs. “We work directly with wildcrafters at the field level as a pathway to ensuring sustainable procurement.”

Nuherbs has sold schisandra for nearly as long as it has been in business. In one of his first books, integrative medicine specialist Andrew Weil, MD mentioned Nuherbs as a great source for schisandra.

Nuherbs’ Schisandra harvest in 2026 will also be certified organic, the company noted.

FairWild’s mission is to promote biodiversity, human rights, and traceability throughout all levels of the wild plant supply chain. Its certification program assures that an ingredient is harvested with care for the entire ecosystem and workers’ rights. Their standard is recognized by the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Sustainable Herbs Initiative as the best practice for wild plant sourcing, and is also recognized by Fair for Life.

“We are thrilled to work with a company like Nuherbs, which has sustainability built into its infrastructure,” said Deborah Vorhies, CEO of FairWild. “Wilson asks important questions about how the Nuherbs team can assure future generations, from the point of harvest to the consumer, access to wild ingredients like Schisandra. We are delighted to support Nuherbs on its sustainability journey and look forward to working together more in the future.”

“Although this year’s schisandra crop has already been sold through, we are having conversations with brands about next year’s crop,” said Lau. “We are working on expanding these programs and invite industry members to partner with us for future advances in meeting consumers’ sustainability preferences.”