The Supply Shift: Issue #2
How sourcing transparency is reshaping CPG brands
For decades, supply chains operated on a simple premise: if the ingredient showed up on time, at spec, and at price—it was good sourcing.
But something’s shifted.
Today, brands are expected to know what’s in their ingredients, where they came from, and what impact they’ve had—on soil, air, water, and people.
This isn’t just a consumer trend.
It’s a systems-level transformation.
From Commodity to Signal
Ingredients are no longer just commodities. They’re signals—carriers of meaning that communicate a brand’s values, priorities, and performance.
In a world where:
Food-related chronic illness costs the U.S. over $1 trillion annually (Tufts Food Compass, 2022)
Agriculture accounts for over 10% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (EPA, 2023)
And over 70% of Gen Z consumers say they consider sustainability when choosing food products (First Insight, 2022)
…the way companies source is no longer just a backend process, it defines their identity.
“Verified Ingredients”
We’re seeing the rise of a new class of ingredients—ones that come with more than just a CoA (Certificate of Analysis).
They come with evidence:
Verified practices
Impact metrics
Supply chain context
In other words…a story of how they differentiate the product and brand to consumers.
These are not just for show—they’re becoming prerequisites in supplier onboarding, consumer reports, and product labels. Responsible sourcing now sits at the nexus of marketing, procurement and sustainability teams - integrating a vision for positive impact (and value) across all levels of the organization and supply chain.
Some brands are building this from the inside out. Others are finding ways to integrate it into existing workflows. Either way, the direction is clear: verified sourcing is becoming the standard.
Why “Transparency” Needs a Reset
Let’s be honest: most transparency tools today are built for traceability, not understanding.
QR codes on packages link to opaque dashboards. Blockchain gets thrown around like a magic wand. Certifications multiply faster than their credibility.
But the real need is clarity:
What does this ingredient do for people and the planet?
What is its story—and is it one the brand can tell with integrity?
In other words, transparency isn’t about technology. It’s about trust.
And trust only scales when it’s grounded in real-world data from the farm up to the consumer.
Not All Verification Is Equal
Brands don’t need perfect data. They need usable data. And they don’t need to prove everything—they need to prove the part of the story that’s most valuable to their customer.
Accordingly, this is where we think the market is moving:
Not every buyer wants carbon intensity, but every buyer wants confidence.
Not every product needs nutrient density scoring, but many will compete on health in the next decade.
Not every claim needs an audit, but every claim needs to be defensible.
Verification doesn’t have to be rigid. It has to be relevant.
Closing Thought
This revolution won’t be driven by carbon markets or consumer activism alone. It’ll be shaped by holistic understanding of human and planetary health and the procurement decisions that solve multiple problems in one purchase.
We’re now in a world where products need stories, and those stories need evidence.
The most valuable brands won’t be the ones with the flashiest sustainability claims.
They’ll be the ones who can tell a clear, credible story about who they are, what they buy and why—and show their work.
Not perfectly. But clearly.
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If you’re contributing to brand value through sourcing, sustainability, or supply chain transformation, we’d love to hear how you’re approaching it.
Let’s keep learning together.