Contents:
- Terms and Conditions
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Why China?
- Why do you test and what do you test for? (Why the COA)?
- Why glass bottles?
- Why amber tinted bottles?
- Why the Phenolic Cap and Cone Liner?
- Why the "should"?
- Why do you recommend California Olive Ranch EVOO?
- Why don't you use heat-shrink wrap?
- Why don't you use thermal paper or labels?
- How did you come up with your vitamin to EVOO(O) ratios?
- What is your process?
- What is your privacy policy?
- What is your return policy?
- Where do you ship? [updated Feb 27, 2025]
- Contact Form
Terms and Conditions (updated Feb. 31, 2025*):
WAIT! before you order, we want to ensure we're on the same page:
- Please do NOT trust our vitamin specification claims.
- Please reference the provided Certificate of Analysis (COA) or our COA page for some peace of mind.
- Each supplement product sold, has COAs available on our COA page. The COAs were performed on a thoroughly mixed bulk batch of product prior to hand bottling.
- Want to see the COA before ordering? Great! Visit our COA page here.
- Please familiarize yourself with these terms, our process, and the FAQs.
- We value your privacy. We have turned off as many tracking settings as possible. There are some functional (payment) cookies required that probably still track some data.
- We like to help and will follow up with you after your purchase by phone, text and/or email to see if you have any questions or concerns. If we are intruding, simply tell us to go pound sand! But do call, text, and/or email us back when you have questions :)
- We like to hear from you! Please feel free to contact us at anytime.
- *NEW: We make no claim that our products can or will solve any of your problems that you may have. All quotes, studies, commentary, etc are for your reference only or the author's own opinion. We are not medical doctors and cannot give any medical advice. At the same time, any comments made by us should not be construed as medical advice. Please do your own research! Thanks!
FAQ:
Why China?
We've personally dealt with issues purchasing and sourcing products from manufacturers in China. And we've had similar issues with companies in the USA.
Generalizations usually work, until they don't.
We found Vitamin K2 MK-4 manufactured in China that passes our tests so far. (What do we test for? and see COAs)
Will it always pass our tests? We don't know, but we will continue to test supplements received and we will continue to source new suppliers.
Know of a potential manufacturer (preferably in the US)? Let us know!
Why do you test and what do you test for? (Why provide a COA?)
While we don't think you should trust us, we think we should do our best to earn your trust.
The promulgation of a "trust-less society" based on blockchain or some other platform is nonsense at best.
We deposit our hard earned money into a bank, is there no trust involved? You give all your information and spending habits to a credit card issuer and again a bank, is there no trust involved? We then use that card to purchase items at ABC retailer, is there no trust involved? ABC retailer uses DEF shipper to ship your order to your door, is there no trust involved?
It's not that trust is not required or superfluous, but we readily hand it over for convenience without even thinking about peeking behind the curtain.
We are trying to cut down the curtain and give you reasons that you may want to think about trusting us.
We have, do, and will make mistakes. And we will do our darn best to find them quickly, own up to them even faster, and above all make it right.
*NEW: We currently all batches of vitamin product we receive for:
- Purity
- 6-month follow up purity
- 7 Heavy Metals: Aluminum, Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Lead, Mercury, & Nickel.
- Mold and Yeast
- Aerobic Plate Count, E Coli, Salmonella
Visit our COA page for the lab results.
Feel like we need to test for something else? Let us know!
Why glass bottles?
Glass versus other packaging materials (plastic, steel, aluminum, ceramic) is more chemically stable than other materials. Meaning it won't leech any unwanted chemicals into the contents (like BPA, iron, aluminum, etc). It's also transparent, making it easy to see what and how much is inside, and non-porous.
It's not without downsides though, for our purpose the main ones being fragility, cost, and suitable cap material. We had to source a plastic liner in order to keep the contents sealed inside the bottle, There isn't a glass or non-toxic alternative unfortunately.
Why amber tinted bottles?
Amber bottles block UV light from reaching the bottle's contents (as beer manufacturers realized). Since Vitamin K2 MK-4 is also UV sensitive, it makes sense to use amber tinted or opaque bottles.
Why the Phenolic Cap and Plastic Cone Liner?
Honestly, the only other choice was a "BPA-free" Polypropylene (PP) plastic cap with a F-217 foam liner (a soft polyethylene foam core sandwiched between 2 LDPE films).
In our opinion, the Phenolic Cap with Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) cone liner is the better choice as it:
- is "food contact safe"
- has a higher heat tolerance (for our steam sterilization)
- has a higher chemical resistance
- is much more durable
- feels better
- is made in the USA
- has a cone liner that is miles ahead of the foam liner in terms of sealing and keeping the powder off the bottle's threads.
Why the "should"?
We haven't found a third party lab that can test for the differing anti-caking agents yet.
Do you know of a lab that can do so? Please let us know!
Why do you recommend California Olive Ranch EVOO?
In our tests, we found that this was the only brand of olive oil that turned solid when put in the fridge.
We have only tried their medium 100% California extra virgin olive oil, not the global blend or reserve collection varieties.
We have no affiliation with the California Olive Ranch company.
Why don't you use heat-shrink wrap/bands?
We did use heat-shrink wrap as a tamper evident seal for our bottles in the very beginning. But quickly (and luckily) realized that the heat required to properly shrink the heat-shrink wrap was causing the minuscule amount of water left in the powder to precipitate/boil out. This made the product stick together and if left long enough would form a hard "cookie" of product.
We notified customers that had purchased products prior to this and sent out replacements. We believe the only thing that changed was the product's consistency, but there was no point in taking that risk. We decided to print labels (not thermal labels) and use them as a tamper evident seal instead.
From our understanding and experience, at least 210°F (98.9°C) is required in order to start the shrinking process. When using this temp, we had to get our heat guns very close to the product and hold it for a couple of seconds in order to get the proper tight and clear seal. We believe that something more along the lines of 220 - 275°F (104.4 - 135°C) would make it much faster, but at the same time risking the product's integrity and our health from potential off-gassing.
Have a different experience or opinion? Let us know!
Why don't you use thermal paper or labels?
Thermal paper and labels are typically laced with Bisphenol A (BPA) and/or Bisphenol S (BPS). Products may advertise that they're BPA free, but not it's cousin BPS. Both are "endocrine disrupters".
|
"Bisphenol A (BPA) due to similar structure to natural hormones can imitate them and disrupt the hormonal system. These endocrine properties of BPA have been known for a long time (Dodds and Lawson, 1938; Gaido et al., 1997). Effects of long exposure to considerable amounts of BPA can cause health issues affecting mainly the reproductive and hormonal system or causing cardiovascular diseases and development abnormalities (Rochester, 2013). According to the observations of recent studies exposure to BPA can lead to altering the insulin response in non-diabetic adults thus resulting in insulin resistance and possibly even type 2 diabetes (Lee et al., 2018; Stahlhut et al., 2018)." "Analysis of receipts from 39 countries has shown that BPA is still the most common compound used around the world with 69% samples containing this color developer. Among other tested bisphenols, BPS was used as a color developer in 20% samples, but it was noted that all samples collected from Japan and the United States of America were found to contain only BPS. Other bisphenols (F, AF, E, and B) considered as possible alternatives for BPA were detected only at trace levels or not detected at all, which showed that they were not used as color developers. The relatively large use of BPS as a BPA substitute is worrying because this compound not only has similar endocrine properties but is also poorly biodegradable. Besides, its relatively high polarity facilitates spreading in the environment." Frankowski, Robert, et al. "The presence of bisphenol A in the thermal paper in the face of changing European regulations–A comparative global research." Environmental Pollution 265 (2020): 114879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114879 |
But it looks like laser toners aren't that great either, especially if you're in the same room while they're printing.
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Abstract: "Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) incorporated into toner formulations of printing equipment become airborne during consumer use. Although information on the complex physicochemical and toxicological properties of both toner powders and printer-emitted particles (PEPs) continues to grow, most toxicological studies have not used the actual PEPs but rather have primarily used raw toner powders, which are not representative of current exposures experienced at the consumer level during printing." Results: "PEPs caused significant membrane integrity damage, an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokine release in different cell lines at doses equivalent to exposure durations from 7.8 to 1,500 hr. Furthermore, there were differences in methylation patterns that, although not statistically significant, demonstrate the potential effects of PEPs on the overall epigenome following exposure." Pirela, Sandra V., et al. "Effects of laser printer–emitted engineered nanoparticles on cytotoxicity, chemokine expression, reactive oxygen species, DNA methylation, and DNA damage: a comprehensive in vitro analysis in human small airway epithelial cells, macrophages, and lymphoblasts." Environmental health perspectives 124.2 (2016): 210-219. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1409582 |
How did you come up with your vitamin to EVOO(O) ratios?
work in progress.
We use the following drop dispensing "style" as outlined in our blog post: Counting is hard.
- Scrape the dropper on the side of the bottle's mouth to get any residual solution off the outside of the dropper,
- Dispense the drops using a slow methodical tempo
Using the above, we also use different drop-count "segments" (dispense 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20 drops a time) and finally we take the total grams of dispensed solution divided by the total number of drops dispensed to achieve our average drop weight. We will continue to add to our average and adjust as necessary.
The drop weights for each type of solution may vary as well. As of, February 2, 2025, we are using the following drop weights for each solution:
| Solution | drop count | weight (g) | g/drop |
|
VK2 MK-4 in EVOO(O) - 2 mg/drop |
4,937 | 142.162 | 0.0288 |
|
VK2 MK-4 in EVOO(O) - TBD mg/drop |
TBD | TBD | TBD |
|
VD3 in EVOOO - 1,000 IU/drop |
2,595 | 74.763 | 0.0288 |
|
VD3 in EVOOO - 10,000 IU/drop |
2,551 | 75.442 | 0.0296 |
What is your process (updated Dec. 20, 2024, changes underlined)?
Pre-Bottling
- Bulk product is received and usually comes in an aluminum or plastic container.
- We immediately:
- weigh the product received
- move it to a washed and steam sterilized (using distilled water) large glass container (wrapped in aluminum foil to block UV light w/ a plastic lid),
- thoroughly mix it
- set aside some to be sent to lab for testing
- place in freezer.
- Send off sample to the lab for testing.
Bottling
- Only when and if our labs results come back meeting or exceeding our specifications do we start bottling.
- Steam sterilize all bottles, caps, seals, and utensils, with distilled water.
- Remove product from the freezer and wait for product to reach room temperature.
- Calibrate our NTEP certified scale with a certified weight.
- Hand weigh and bottle the product.
- Cap the bottle and use the following "tamper seal": label sticker (non-thermal transfer paper, printed using a laser printer) as a "tamper seal". ()
- Vitamin K2 MK-4 POWDER: We use a label sticker (non-thermal transfer paper, printed using a laser printer) as a "tamper seal". Why no heat-shrink wrap?
- Vitamin K2 MK-4 in EVOO: We DO use a heat-shrink wrap "tamper seal", as we haven't noticed any ill effects thus far. If you think otherwise, please let us know!
- Apply an adhesive product label (not thermal transfer paper, why?) printed using a laser printer with a traceable serial number on each bottle.
Post-Bottling
- Finished product is stored at around 74 - 78°F (23.3 - 25.6°C).
- Shipping labels are non-thermal transfer labels and printed using a standard laser printer. (why not use thermal labels?)
- Orders are packed and delivered to the post office or UPS store as close as possible to their pick up time to avoid being in the heat.
What is your privacy policy?
We have turned off all of the tracking/analytics settings that we could find.
This means it will be harder for us to know who is shopping with us (help us spread the word!).
It also means that your privacy is "somewhat" safe when you visit our site.
"Somewhat" because there are still some functional aspects of the site (ie: cookies) that are required for the site to work properly (ie: accepting payments). Sadly, this is one of the convenience tradeoffs we wrote about earlier.
What is your return policy?
We are here to work with you should you have any issues or not with our products.
We take sales to you personally.
At the same time, we don't currently foresee accepting returns for any reason other than an error made on our part. But, we understand there are always always special situations. Please contact us and let us know your situation. Thank you!
Where do you ship to? [updated Feb 27, 2025]
We have recently installed a live rate shipping calculator for all international destinations (outside of the US).
When checking out, please consider choosing a PRE-PAID import tariffs and duties when you checkout as this will greatly expedite the customs clearing process once the product reaches your country.
There should be a pre-paid option available when selecting shipping options at checkout.
If you're having any issues please contact us!
Contact Form:
We're here to answer questions and more!
Call or Text us at anytime: +1 984-500-9915
Or send us an email anytime: info@larksupply.co
Or please fill out the form below to get in contact with us: