Here are some additional resources and websites to monitor for safety tips and updates. Stay safe & healthy!

Coronavirus: Tips for Self-Protection. Be cautious, but don't panic! Prevention is similar to avoiding other illnesses.

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General Information

Draft Kombucha and Taproom Information

Kombucha Brewery Facility Information

  • Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers
  • Occupational Safety and Health Administration: COVID-19 Control and Prevention
  • FDA briefing to food stakeholders:
    • There has been NO evidence of the transmission of the Coronavirus from food or food packaging.
    • Food products do not have to be placed on-hold or recalled if an employee at a food facility is diagnosed with COVID-19.
    • Personal hygiene, as well as facility, equipment, and utensil cleaning and sanitization procedures that are required in GMPs, are expected to still be appropriate amid this crisis.
    • Now routine domestic inspections will also be postponed and only “mission-critical” inspections will be conducted as necessary in cases where there is Class I Recall, a foodborne outbreak, or COVID-19 related situation.
    • Ensuring a continuous supply of safe food is a critical factor for the US and the FDA and Department of Homeland Security are working together to ensure that is the case. Food facilities involved in this supply, are therefore not subject to the quarantine and shelter in place orders and any issues with this should be addressed to the latter and FEMA.

Small Business Assistance 

Essential Businesses
The definition may vary according to your local ordinance. These businesses may carry your products and/or your facility may be able to offer to pick up or delivery. 

  • Grocery stores, certified farmers’ markets,  farm and produce stands, supermarkets, food banks,  convenience stores,  and other establishments engaged in the retail sale of canned food, dry goods, fresh fruits and vegetables, pet supply, fresh meats, fish, and poultry, and any other household consumer products (such as cleaning and personal care products).  This  includes  stores that sell groceries and also sell other non-grocery products, and  products necessary to maintain the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences”
  • Restaurants and other facilities that prepare and serve food, but only for delivery or carry out – social distancing measures must be practiced
  • Businesses that ship or deliver groceries, food, goods or services directly to residences

International Information

Join the conversation in the KBI Members Forum

Guidance for Travelers

“Essential Travel” includes travel for any of the following purposes. Individuals engaged in any Essential Travel must comply with all Social Distancing Requirements
Any travel related to the provision of or access to Essential Activities, Essential Governmental Functions, Essential Businesses, or Minimum Basic Operations

Travelers are encouraged to always exercise healthy travel habits when traveling and to follow guidance issued by official sources of public health information.

Are we missing a vital resource? Please send your link to admin@kombuchabrewers.org so we can share them here.

Suppliers of Grass-Fed Beef and Premium Meats: U.S. Wellness Meats Supports KKON17

U.S. Wellness Meats is one of the largest suppliers of premium, grass-fed, grass-finished meats in the country. USWM ships to all 50 states. The company is family owned by Northeast Missouri and Western Illinois farmers. They aren’t your ordinary cattle farmers though. In 2000, four families got together with a desire to offer healthier, premium, grass fed and finished beef to the marketplace. This requires attention to more than just the end-product. It starts with sustainable farming practices that have been all but lost through the years. The U.S. Wellness Meats families and suppliers have committed to continually improving and growing these efforts.

More could be said about soil conservation and improvement, organic matter, grazing, quality of forage, and sustainability, but we’ll save that for another time. We’re going to focus on improving health and quality of life in this article.

Healthy Foods VS Unhealthy Foods – Maintaining a Healthy Balance

There are lots of opinions out there on what constitutes a healthy diet. Maintaining a balance of real, naturally nutritious food can be like navigating an obstacle course. There are a few somewhat simple bits of common sense when it comes to eating healthy. Maybe these will help change your paradigm or at the least encourage you to stay focused on better health in 2017.

  1. Know where your food originates and where it’s been.
  2. Know what’s in your food – check your labels and make sure you understand what that 27-letter word really is and if you want to put it in your body. Hint: Zygosaccharomyces is a probiotic present in many Kombucha samples. It’s certainly not the same as the preservative Tertiary butylhydroquinone. Two totally different long winded names with totally different consumption consequences. If you don’t know what it is, Google it! Remember, fewer ingredients are generally better.
  3. Stay away from the inside aisles of the grocery store as much as possible
  4. Learn how to make nutritious food at home – this takes more time and management but at least you know the ingredients.
  5. Eat foods that are either lightly processed or not processed at all.
  6. When dining out, look for light or healthy selections.
  7. If you’re eating meat, consider the diet of your food. What has the animal been fed? Do you want that in your body?
  8. If you’re eating veggies or fruits, consider what has been applied. Have pesticides been used? Are there hidden chemicals lurking in your food?

What Makes Kombucha Good For You?

Kombucha lovers know the benefits of this tasty cocktail:

  1. Beneficial bacteria can improve digestive functions
  2. Anti-oxidants helps strengthen your immune system
  3. Vitamins, minerals, and enzymes offer an energy boost
  4. Amino acids encourage healthy metabolic activity

There are many more health benefits that can be derived from Kombucha. The same can be said for a great many natural foods. This is why it’s so important to know what you’re eating. Know the benefits and the potential contraindications. If you have certain health conditions in your family, it’s incumbent upon you to make food choices that can help prevent sickness or promote better health and wellness for you and your loved ones.

Our Animals Eat Right So You Can Too!

Remember the phrase “you are what you eat?” Consider this when you make food decisions. Our Grass-fed, Grass-finished meats are a healthy alternative to what you find in most grocery store meats.

Our grassfed, grass-finished meats contain:

  1. More CLA (essential fatty acid)
  2. Healthy Omega 6:3 ratio of 3:1
  3. High in branch chain amino acids
  4. More heart healthy, anti-oxidants Vitamins A & E
  5. Fewer calories
  6. NO irradiation
  7. NO animal by-products
  8. NO antibiotics
  9. NO added hormones
  10. NO GMO

Health & Well being Starts With Your Food 

In summary, eat good, clean, healthy food — enjoy better health. Natural foods are just naturally better for us. The tech biz has another formula, GIGO or Garbage In Garbage Out. Choosing high quality inputs in a living form that the body has evolved to recognize will provide a quality of nutrition that is simply lacking in overly processed foods. There’s something to be said for that in relation to our health too.

KombuchaKon 2017: Use Promo Code ‘Scoby’ for 15% Off

US Wellness Meats is offering a special promotion for KKON 2017. Enter Promo Code ‘Scoby’ in your online cart or mention it when you order by phone and receive 15% off your next order. This code is good for up to 2 orders. Excludes orders over 40lbs, sale items, volume discounts and gift certificates. This offer is not valid on previous orders. Offer expires July 31, 2017.

 ORDER TODAY!

Official KombuchaKon 2016 Tasting Glasses

 

An unprecedented 219 kombucha brewers from 90 companies and 6 countries gathered this past weekend in sunny Long Beach, California for Kombucha Brewers International’s third annual conference, KombuchaKon 2016.

 

KombuchaKon 2016

 

This year’s KombuchaKon boasted impressive gains, including doubling last year’s attendance numbers, expansion from a single room into a conference center, a first annual industry trade show, and the World’s Largest Kombucha Sampling Bar.

 

Kombucha Tasting Bar at KombuchaKon 2016A highlight of the conference, the World’s Largest  Kombucha Sampling Bar, bustling throughout the weekend, included sample beverages from every brewer able and willing to transport kombucha to the Long Beach Convention Center. The experience allowed members to explore various flavor profiles and discuss brewing techniques with other industry insiders as they tasted. Loads of kombucha arrived throughout the weekend via various shipping companies as well as by hand delivery. The official collectible KombuchaKon 2016 tasting glasses, sponsored by Spectrum Label Corp, were in high demand as brewers compared varieties and styles.

 

Hannah Crum speaking at KombuchaKon 2016
Hannah Crum speaking at KombuchaKon 2016

New for this year, KBI offered two educational tracks, which allowed all members the chance to sit in on various sessions throughout the day, since each member registration includes admission for two attendees. Track 1 detailed processes and requirements that will be necessary for participation in the KBI Verification Program, and provided a wealth of information for Brewery in Process members focusing on basic business practices and legal requirements, the Food Safety Modernization Act, and HACCP plan creation and training. Track 2, offered more advanced topics, such as grassroots marketing strategies (such as social media, festivals, and live demos); lab testing methods, research, and an AOAC working group update; and the very popular session on techniques for controlling alcohol in kombucha production. Other workshop sessions included discussions regarding label and nutritional claims and market and trend analysis. 

 

Gary Deschutes speaking at KombuchaKon 2016
Gary Deschutes speaking at KombuchaKon 2016

Keynote speaker Gary Fish of Deschutes Brewery, a longtime member of the Brewers Association, delivered an inspiring talk that motivated KBI members by reminding brewers that quality is the main key to success as both an individual business and a trade organization, and that an industry such as this one survives only through robust and healthy competition.

 

Generous sponsors provided everything from booths at the trade show to high-quality grass-fed fermented organic foods to the conference bag sponsored by White Labs. Thank you again to all of our amazing sponsors for KombuchaKon 2016

Silver Sponsors

  • Atago USAIMG_2617
  • Anton Paar
  • The Jasmine Pearl Tea Company
  • Jenny Stern Video Marketing Web
  • Kombucha on Tap
  • Pack Leader USA
  • White Labs
  • Spectrum Label Corporation
  • Wildly Fermented

Bronze Sponsors

  • US Wellness Meats
  • Mannanova Solutions
  • Cornerstone Laboratories LLCIMG_2716
  • Gamer Packaging
  • Ventura Spirits
  • Whole Foods Markets
  • Greenberg Traurig
  • Cultivate Events

Speakers

  • Bobbi Leahy
  • Justin Prochnow
  • Sam LaBonia
  • Gary Fish

Without the help of these companies and individuals, the event surely would not have been such a smashing success. If you would like to get in on the ground level of a growing industry, join us as an affiliate member! Join the kombucha generation!

 
As with any developing event, KombuchaKon can already visualize even more ways to improve and expand for next year, and we look forward to your joining us in our next ferment!KombuchaKon 2016 Attendees