Wheatgrass supplier qualification has one job above all others: establishing that the supplier sells the format they name, at the harvest stage they claim. The gap between the best and worst material on the market is invisible in a sample bag — both are green powders — and the price spread between honest and dishonest offers is exactly the spread between young juice powder and mature milled grass. This is a weighted framework for scoring suppliers on what predicts a repeatable material, and the red flags that should end a conversation before scoring begins.
Before You Score Anyone: Three Disqualifying Red Flags
These are not point deductions. They are reasons to stop.
- No chlorophyll figure on the CoA. A wheatgrass document that describes colour but declares no chlorophyll percentage with a method is refusing to be checked. Chlorophyll is the material's only workable marker; a supplier who will not state it has a reason.
- The gluten question answered with botany instead of data. "Wheatgrass is harvested before the grain so it is gluten-free" is true and insufficient. The correct answer includes an ELISA result. A supplier who has never tested has never seriously supplied a gluten-free-labelled brand.
- Juice-powder pricing indistinguishable from powder pricing. Genuine cold-processed juice powder costs roughly twice what milled whole grass costs, because most of the harvested mass is discarded with the fibre. A "juice powder" quoted at whole-grass money is whole-grass powder.
On the price point: collect five quotations for the same named format, discard the highest and lowest, and treat the middle three as the market. In wheatgrass specifically, an outlier low quote almost always means a format or harvest-stage substitution rather than a generous margin — the raw material is too cheap for heroic discounts to come from anywhere else.
The Scoring Framework
Weighted to 100 points across five dimensions. Score each supplier before you see their price, so commercial pressure does not colour the technical read.
1. Format Transparency and Analytical Rigour — 30 points
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Format named explicitly on specification and CoA (whole grass / juice powder / 10:1) | 8 |
| Total chlorophyll by UV-Vis, stated on dry basis, batch-specific | 7 |
| Pre-jointing harvest-stage declaration | 5 |
| Identity verified (chlorophyll a/b profile, microscopy or TLC) | 4 |
| Protein, fibre, acid-insoluble ash lines present | 4 |
| Carriers and excipients declared by name and percentage | 2 |
2. Gluten, Testing and Compliance Readiness — 25 points
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Gluten by R5 ELISA, batch-wise, NMT 20 ppm, report available | 7 |
| Heavy metals by ICP-MS with numeric per-element limits (not "complies") | 5 |
| Full USP microbiological panel including pathogens | 5 |
| EU pesticide MRL screening available with a real report; non-ETO declaration | 4 |
| Testing at a NABL-accredited (or ISO 17025 equivalent) laboratory | 4 |
The gluten line carries the most weight on this table deliberately: it is the single document most wheatgrass buyers will eventually be asked for by their own customers, and it cannot be produced retroactively for a shipped batch.
3. Traceability and Sourcing — 15 points
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Correct-species declaration (Triticum aestivum) on every batch | 5 |
| Cultivation site and harvest window stated; batch traceable to raw-material lot | 5 |
| Copper reported by ICP-MS (chlorophyllin-spiking control) | 3 |
| Organic certification chain intact where organic is claimed | 2 |
4. Consistency and Capability — 15 points
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Three consecutive batch CoAs showing chlorophyll assay consistency | 6 |
| Multiple formats genuinely available (whole grass, juice powder, 10:1, organic) | 4 |
| Low-temperature drying capability confirmed (the juice-powder differentiator) | 3 |
| Retention samples held and available | 2 |
Three consecutive CoAs are the underused tool here as everywhere: one document shows a best day, three show a process. Suspiciously identical chlorophyll figures across batches are their own signal — a natural crop varies with season and light.
5. Commercial Terms and Responsiveness — 15 points
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Incoterms quoted properly (EXW/FOB/CIF/CIP) to your named destination | 4 |
| Written payment terms on a proforma invoice, not verbal | 3 |
| Realistic lead times, including documentation | 3 |
| Samples supplied with the same CoA standard as bulk | 3 |
| Technical questions answered by someone who understands the material | 2 |
A useful two-point test for that last line: ask why their juice powder's chlorophyll figure is higher than their whole-grass powder's. A supplier who explains the fibre arithmetic without escalating has real technical depth behind the sales desk.
Interpreting the Score
| Score | Reading |
|---|---|
| 85–100 | Qualified for bulk supply. Proceed to sample and pre-shipment verification. |
| 70–84 | Workable with conditions. Identify the gaps and require them closed in writing before first bulk order. |
| 55–69 | Suitable for trial quantities only, with independent testing on every lot. |
| Below 55 | Not a supplier for a regulated market. The documentation burden will fall on you. |
The Sample Stage Is Part of the Assessment
- Run the glass-of-water test. Juice powder disperses toward solution; whole-grass powder settles into a fibrous layer. If the behaviour contradicts the label, stop.
- Check the colour against the assay. A vivid green with a modest declared chlorophyll figure, or the reverse, deserves the copper question before anything else — see adulteration and authenticity.
- Ask for the batch number and confirm the sample comes from a production lot, then order against that same specification and verify.
- Note what they ask you. A supplier who does not ask about your finished format or your gluten-labelling intent will not catch a mismatch before it becomes your problem.
First-Order Protocol
- Nominate an independent laboratory — Eurofins, SGS or Intertek — for pre-shipment sampling and testing, at your cost, covering chlorophyll, gluten, copper and the microbiological panel.
- Compare the independent report line by line against the supplier CoA; small variances are normal, directional patterns are not.
- Retain a sealed, dated sample of the shipped lot for the material's shelf life.
- Re-verify independently at batch three and annually, or on any change of season, site or format.
SV Botanica supplies bulk wheatgrass — whole-grass powder, cold-processed juice powder, 10:1 extract and certified organic — from certified facilities in India with batch-specific CoAs from NABL-accredited laboratories, and welcomes buyer-nominated third-party pre-shipment testing. The full parameter list is on the wheatgrass extract product page, and the specification logic behind it is in the buyer's guide.
Source Chlorophyll-Declared Wheatgrass from India
Whole-grass powder, cold-processed juice powder & 10:1 extract · chlorophyll by UV-Vis · gluten tested by ELISA · CoA-backed · samples for qualified buyers