Our commitments
Golgemma is committed on several levels: with its CSR and FFL policies but also regarding product quality, with strict traceability and a salient regulatory assistance.
Our expertises
Quality approach
Golgemma applies a strict quality policy, from plant to extract.
Each batch of extract or essential oil on sale has been carefully chosen for its organoleptic profile and its physicochemical properties.
GOLGEMMA has set up a quality management system because quality can only be systematically achieved with ongoing management and inspect of manufacturing processes.
So our business is well-organised, operating according to a continuous improvement process.
Our quality approach is based on the integration of several standards, regulations and good practices.
Regulatory assistance
For each reference Golgemma has committed to providing the regulatory and technical documentation needed to use the relevant materials (analysis bulletins, technical data sheets, safety data sheets (SDS), cosmetic or food allergen certificates, IFRA certificates, etc. as applicable).
Our Regulatory Affairs Department ensures the application of regulatory provisions and regularly updates all documentation, which is available online on our website (link to regulatory documents).
Furthermore, our regulatory team takes a proactive stance in monitoring the various regulations and recommendations.
- Regulations
– CLP 1272/2008
– European Cosmetic Regulation 1223/2009
- Recommendations
– Recommendations of IFRA standards
– Belgian Royal Decree, Plant Decree, BELFRIT list
Traceability
Impeccable quality starts with the careful selection of raw materials from our farms and suppliers.
We keep in constant contact with our partners, so we are well-acquainted with their manufacturing processes and the exact origin of every batch we market.
We ensure the traceability of every batch of raw material and finished product by creating a batch file composed of traceability elements from the moment of reception.
Traceability is ensured back to the supplier and even back to the exact plot for materials grown on Biolandes farms.
We assign a batch number as soon as we receive our raw materials.
The integration on this scale of our supply chain is unique in the industry. It ensures great traceability of the origin of Golgemma’s products and strict control of the supply chains.
We grow, harvest and process around a hundred flowers and plants on our farms.
CSR Policy and Fair Trade
For more relevance and better performance in our actions, we have structured and organised our commitments according to the principles of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). We have set out our commitments according to the principles of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), to make it more pertinent and to improve our performance.
CSR is "the responsibility of companies for the effects they have on society".
CSR puts forward a management model based on the various aspects of sustainable development, underpinned by social policy, economic policy and environmental policy.
This model provides recommendations for any company wishing to take responsibility for the impacts of its business and decisions. This implies rethinking its strategy and positioning within its industry. Thus, we have voluntarily integrated our social, environmental and economic role into our sustainable development strategy.
This means we can analyse our behaviour in order to define long-term strategy and action plans, with a view to continuous improvement. We are committed to sharing our values, including the concerns of our stakeholders (employees, suppliers, customers, NGOs, local communities, etc.) in our development choices and acting transparently in this process.
Our business bridges the worlds of agriculture and industry, meaning that we are ideally positioned to meet these requirements.
Golgemma’s "For Life" (FL) Certification
This standard certifies that Golgemma is committed to the improvement of its employees’ well-being and the local sustainable development of its supply chain.
Fair Trade
Golgemma is committed to operating in a socially responsible manner and according to the principles of fair trade in many of its supply chains, and has thus obtained certain labels.
"Fair for Life" (FFL) certification
The "Fair for Life" (FFL) certification for each product confirms the implementation of business agreements performed on the basis of ethical, fair, respectful and sustainable partnerships for both production operators and their environment.
Our Businesses
Production
Ever since our company was founded, we have been growing, producing, harvesting, processing and extracting plant raw materials.
The plants extracted on the Die site in France are entirely grown according to the rules of organic farming: Rosemary, Echinacea, Clary sage, Mint, Linden, Cornflower, Arnica, Witch hazel, Lavender, Artichoke, Carrot, Thym, Passion flower, Black radish, plant buds … .
All essential oils and organic floral waters are obtained by steam distillation using several stills. Wild plants are also gathered throughout the year: Marigold, Valerian, St John’s wort, Birch, Fireweed, Mallow, Horsetail, Hawthorn, Elderberry, Meadowsweet…
In Die, in the Drôme department of France, our 3,100sq.m production site is equipped with macerators, a pasteuriser and a concentrator. In Marignac-en-Diois, a few kilometres away from Die, a distillery produces essential oils and hydrolats from local plants. Die site is certified according to the ISO 22000: 2018 standard for food grade products.
At both the Die and Espéraza site, we have the same departments (quality control, administrative and sales management, logistics – reception / shipment.
We have long enjoyed special business relations with Madagascar, an amazing land in terms of soil, plants and flavours. We finally established ourselves there in 2012 in order to be closer to this remarkable source.
Since 2015, we have been cultivating 180 ha of plantations in the northeast of Madagascar and producing about twenty essential oils, including ylang-ylang.
In Morocco, the farm in Khemisset and a production site in El Kelaa process raw materials such as orange blossom, rose and wormwood.
In Bulgaria, a farm from the Biolandes group is located in the Rose Valley. The site has For Life certification and has a dozen stills and several extractors to process our plant raw materials such as rose and lavender.
Producing essential oils and hydrolats
We have two original distilleries, next to our site in Die and in Madagascar. We rely on our parent company Biolandes’ many distilleries, in Valréas (France), Le Sen (France), Puebla de Guzman (Spain), Anjouan (Comoros) and El Kelaa (Morocco).
Producing other extracts for cosmetics and food supplements
In our production units such as in Die, in Drôme, we process medicinal and aromatic plants to produce plant extracts, mother tinctures (hydroalcoholic extracts), glycerine extracts, hydroalcoholic glycerine extracts, glycerine macerates and oily macerates, hydrolats etc.
We have a cold concentrator, allowing us to concentrate the active ingredients while preserving them, and a filtering bottom extractor.
Local Partnerships and Sourcing
For over 40 years, we have developed our network of farmers and producer partners, so that we can guarantee a very high level of traceability for our plants and raw materials.
In France and abroad, we have set up agreements with producers, as close as possible to the place of harvest, to ensure that our quality requirements are met.
We deploy fair management of our supplies (remuneration, working conditions).
In Madagascar in particular, we are working with our Malagasy partners to improve the living conditions of producers, access to training and education, and social and environmental development.
Thus in 2022, we are proud to announce that for MAB Ambanja (our Malagasy farm and subsidiary):
People directly benefitted from the development fund run by the association ARASMA of which we are a member.
Pupils from the AURACACIA Mahabibo Ambohimena School benefit from initiatives by the development fund set up locally.
People benefit from the funding of public lighting in the villages of Matsaborilava, Ambohimena, Andimaka and Ankatafa Vaovao.