With her film career faltering, Jessica Alba has found a new career as an entrepreneur, founding the incredibly successful eco-friendly household goods retailer The Honest Company. But although the company has based its brand — and raked in millions — on the promise that their products are safe and ethically produced, the announcement earlier this year that the company had been outsourcing some production to China angered and scared some consumers, who claimed the overseas factories couldn’t possibly be up to the brand’s standards. And while The Honest Company execs assured the concerned parents that every effort had been taken to vet their foreign factories, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned that at least one of them has a disturbing history of importing unsafe products that were barred by the FDA for including untested drugs!
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According to U.S. Customs data reviewed by Radar, one of The Honest Company’s main suppliers is the American Hygienics Corporation located in Shanghai. As recently as May 19, 2014, Honest Company received a shipment of 10,110 cartons of wet wipes from the Chinese company. On May 18, 2014, they received 33,098 cartons of wet wipes from American Hygienics. In total, records show, Honest Company received more than 142,595 cartons of wet wipes from the Shanghai–based supplier so far this year alone, and their relationship with the company goes back to 2012, the year the company was founded.
What The Honest Company may not know, however — and what their customers certainly don’t — is that American Hygienics has a history of being barred from importing to the U.S. after the FDA found “unsafe” and untested drugs in their wipes.
According to an import refusal report obtained by Radar, the FDA found on April 11, 2008, that the wipes the company was trying to import into the US appeared to contain “a new animal drug which is unsafe,” and subsequently blocked the shipment.
The next year, on February 5, 2009, yet another shipment of wipes from the company was barred from the U.S. The FDA again cited the shipment as containing “a new animal drug which is unsafe.”
Though The Honest Company has never revealed this information to buyers, they hinted in a blog post last November that customers might have reason to be concerned about their decision to work with foreign manufacturers.
In a November 2013 post entitled “Why Make Products In China?” The Honest Company wrote, “With a history of product recalls, less than optimal working conditions, and deleterious environmental impacts, China’s overall reputation in the eyes of global consumers has been less than stellar.”
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Still, they defended their decision to work with American Hygienics and other foreign partners, insisting, “We ask A LOT from our partners. They, like us, have to go the extra mile when it comes to safety, sustainability, labor practices and more. Our team on the ground in China is very hands-on to ensure every part of the process lives up to Honest standards . . . We wouldn’t trust any old manufacturer in China.”
Customers, however, were suspicious of the decision and aired their displeasure in the comments section.
“I’m pretty disappointed that you are making anything in China!” one user, Samantha, wrote. “Unless you have people over there 24/7 monitoring the facilities and testing every batch of wipes or whatever, then all this is just talk and I’m not sure it’s safe. Come on, the wipes!? They taint baby formula and now you are going to trust them to make other baby products? Maybe your standards aren’t as high as I thought they were.”
“No one trusts China,” user Rebecca wrote. “Maybe you do, but we don’t. If you can’t participate in responsible manufacturing, get out of the game!”
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And Kristine wrote, “I kinda feel lied to a bit . . . I know I would rather pay more for products made in the USA.”
Were their concerns justified? With The Honest Company set to launch their line at Target stores nationwide on June 15, Radar’s revelation may cause consumers to take another look at the brand and just how honest they really are.
Would you buy products from The Honest Company? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments!
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