Why buy Forever Living Aloe?
You may ask Why should I buy Forever Living Aloe when I can buy other brands cheaper?
It is a valid question and perhaps we can better answer you with the following information.
FLP and its affiliates are the world’s largest grower and distributor of Aloe Vera. We own plantations in the USA and the Caribbean – both prime growing climates. Therefore we can tell you EXACTLY how and where our Aloe was grown.
For example, we know and can assure you that no pesticides or herbicides are used in our Aloe Vera fields.
We control the whole process, from choosing which leaves are ripe for harvest, right through to the storage temperature after bottling. We are not dependent on any other supplier.
Our gel is extracted from freshly harvested, mature leaves and stabilized to protect its essential nutritional content within hours. The stabilization process is patented by Forever Living Products’ Founder, Chairman of Board of Directors and CEO Rex Maughan.
At Forever Living Products we believe that quality is NEVER a compromise! And we are willing to put our money where our mouth is.
Let us take you on a tour of the process of bringing "the plant to the product to you".
Step 1 - Aloe Fields:
Producing the highest quality health and beauty products starts from ground up. FLP begins by cultivating in thousands of acres of rich fertile soil in the United States, Mexico and Dominican Republic, Just the Dominican Republic plantation is home to more than 12 million Aloe Vera plants, each continually producing fresh Aloe Vera.
To ensure purity, only all natural fertilizers are used and field production is rotated in order to constantly renew the soil. By growing, harvesting and processing in a chemical and pesticide free environment, FLP produces naturally potent products that are made for healthier people and a healthier planet.
Step 2 - Cultivation:
Each Aloe plant starts out as a shoot that is clipped from the root of a mature plant. These shoots or pups as they are called are then planted to form new Aloe Vera plants. After three years of careful cultivation, the outer leaves of the Aloe plants are ready for harvesting. Each mature Aloe Vera leaf' is gently removed from the plant by hand with a small incision along the stalk on the bottom edge of the leaf, so as not to damage the younger leaves that are still growing.
Once the leaf is cut of the plant, the clear gel inside becomes vulnerable to the harmful effects of air and oxidation. if left exposed the gel begins to turn brown and loses its potency.
Forever Living Products takes every precaution to minimize this exposure during harvest so that the gel remains in its freshest purest form.
Step 3 - Cleaning and Extraction:
The leaves undergo a thorough cleaning process where they are bathed several times in cool water and given a high pressure wash where any remaining debris is removed prior to trimming.
Each leaf is then inspected for defects and the tops and bottoms are removed before they are given a final rinse in preparation of gel extraction.
Step 4 - Stabilization:
FLP's patented gel extraction system separates the clear Aloe gel from the outer leaf or the unwanted rind. While other manufacturers use the whole leaf including the rind in their Aloe Vera products, FLP has found that the rind has no real health benefit. So instead of filling their Aloe gel with useless by product, they return the rind back to the field for natural decomposition. This restores nutrients to the soil and rejuvenates it for future generations of plants.
Once the pure Aloe Vera gel is extracted from the leaf, it is collected in stainless steel containers and filtered to remove unwanted rind and pulp material.
Because the clear Aloe gel will quickly spoil when removed from the rind it immediately goes through a patented stabilization process which protects it from oxidation, and seals in it the natural potency.
Step 5 - Testing:
After stabilization the gel is packaged and sealed before undergoing extensive laboratory testing and analysis to ensure purity ad consistency. Although FLP and its affiliates are the largest producers of pure Aloe Vera in the world, quality is still their first priority. Creating products that millions of people depend on for their health and well being carries with it a big responsibility. So through all the manufacturing processes, FLP continually tsts and retests their products and ingredients to ensure that they meet the highest standards of quality and purity.
These demanding standards have earned FLP a variety of distinctions. They were the first company in the industry to receive the prestigious International Aloe Science Council Seal of approval.
This highly coveted proof of purity is your assurance that quality and the quantity of pure Aloe contained in each product is second to none. In addition, the FLP Aloe Vera drinks carry the International Kosher and the Islamic Seals of approval as their further testament to their International acceptance and excellence.
Once the Aloe gel is tested and approved, it is transported from its various processing plants in sealed drums on tanker trucks and taken to FLP's product manufacturing plant - Aloe Vera of America (AVA) in Dallas, Texas. This state of the art facility combines all phases of Aloe production under one roof. From research and development, to product formulation, to bottling and packaging, quality control laboratories, warehousing and shipping.
As the truck arrive from the processing plants the stabilized Aloe Vera is unloaded and put through a series of microbiological and quantitative testing before being approved for product formulation and manufacturing. Once approved the Aloe is transported to our product formulation tanks or in the case of our Aloe Vera Gel directly to the automated filling line.
Step 6 - Filling:
Our new Aloe Vera bottling line fills bottles to an accurate level and is capable of running at high speeds, filling as many as300 bottles per minute or 18,000 bottles per hour. This new filler is fully automated and state-of-the-art.
Its design provides for an in-line, 100% inspection of each bottle after each critical step of the filling process. Capacity is important when you are ensuring a constant supply of products to over 9.25 million distributors and their customers world wide.
The operation begins with a de-palletizer, which gentlly slides bottles onto the conveyer. The bottom of each bottle is then printed with a "lot" number and is immediately inspected with a high speed digital camera. The bottle then passes through a sanitizing device to mitigate the possiblity of physical or microbial contamination. The bottles exit this device on an enclosed conveyer and into the sanitary environment of the bottle filler.
Step 7 - Sealing:
The new production line incorporates a sealing device integrated with the filling machine. The foil seals are punched from a sheet and formed into caps. The caps are sealed on the bottles immediately after they are filled and before they exit the sanitary environment of the filler.
Next, the bottles are individually weighed using a high speed scale and then the bottles pass through a leak detection system to insure the integrity of the foil seal. The bottles are then capped and passed through an x-ray machine to check for any foreign contaminants.
Step 8 - Packing:
Each minute, 25 cases are erected by the case packing robot. The robot gently places the bottles into the case boxes, 4 cases (48 bottles) at a time.
Then the cases are taped and weighed to ensure they have 12 bottles in each
Step 9 - Palletizing:
Next the bottles move to the palletizing robot which stacks the cases onto the palette in a pattern that is pre-programmed. This is a big improvement for the safety of our employees who no longer have to hand-stack each drink palette.
Finally the finished palettes move to the stretch wrapping devise and are ready for transporation to the warehouse.
Step 10 - Shipping and Delivery:
AVA (Aloe Vera of America) ships hundreds of containers every month, in fact we are on of the largest exporters in the Southern United States. These containers are sent to well over 140 countries world wide providing people just like you with what we know to be the very best health products in the world.
At Forever, we focus on providing to our 9.25 million distributors world wide with the highest quality Aloe Vera based health and beauty care products. We are proud that our products have benefited millions in the US and over 140 countries around the world, we promise to continue with our pursuit of quality and excellence.
Our products make the difference between, good and feeling great!
No artificial flavoring or colouring is added to our gel. As there are many harvests during the course of the year, colour and taste may vary. It has been known for some companies to add bleaching agents to their Aloe Vera products, to keep the colour consistent on the shelves, all year long. We firmly believe that the colour variations are NATURAL and HEALTHY.
Although a large proportion of Aloe Vera gel is naturally composed of water, anybody seeing the raw gel will know that it is not a thin clear liquid. Our Aloe Vera gel is NOT homogenized or filtered. Our drinks have a rich pulp which settles and contains much of the goodness of Aloe Vera that is necessary in our daily diets. We advise you to shake the drinks well to receive the full benefit from our pulp. There are some companies who offer Aloe Vera with the pulp strained, giving it the appearance of bottled water.
In recent times, whole-leaf Aloe Vera has attracted much attention and is presented by its manufacturers as providing extra benefits. They often avoid mentioning that in order to remove the strong laxative elements found in the outer leaf, they must pass the whole liquid through charcoal filters, which inevitably upsets the natural balance of nutrients found in the gel. FLP does not have to risk the integrity of the product by subjecting the gel to this filtering process. Since the traditional, well-proven benefits of Aloe Vera are found in the gel, not the rind, FLP discards the useless rinds, using them as natural fertilizers in its Aloe fields.
Our Aloe Vera is not boiled. Boiling or pasteurization is cheaper and faster. Excessive heat destroys the active ingredients. We use only sub-pasteurization temperatures (known as ‘cool processing’) to ensure enzyme activity is preserved. Cool processing locks in the nutrients immediately for a greater time.