The Flourish Way

Part of what makes Flourish unique is the natural state the probiotic bacteria are kept. The eleven strains grow up together and create an environment that the bacteria are happiest – acidic. The primary way probiotics are beneficial to the gut is that they lower the pH in the colon, making it an unfriendly place for pathogenic, or bad, bacteria. When the good bacteria take up more space, there’s less room for bad bacteria to occupy!

In the typical probiotic production process, the bacteria are grown separately by strain. The environment the bacteria has created for itself is then spun off in a process called centrifugation, leaving only the bacteria in paste form. The probiotic bacteria are then freeze-dried and pulverized into a fine powder to be combined into a capsule.

The Flourish Way is to keep it simple, letting the bacteria lead the way.  

 Quality Assurance

Before any production can occur, the raw ingredients first flow through our Quality Assurance program. Suppliers have been vetted and verified. Once the ordered ingredients arrive at our facility, samples are drawn and sent to a third-party for testing. This step confirms the ingredients are FREE of peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs, soy, gluten, shellfish, carrageenan, glyphosate, artificial colors, GMOs, and artificial sweeteners. The ingredients are cleared and ready for use based on the results from the third-party lab.

 Production

Like all mothers, our mother culture is very dear to us!  Over the course of two weeks, the mother culture is propagated prior to being used in the production of Flourish Original and Flourish Junior.  

Batches of 45 – 50 gallons are prepared and fermented over the course of two weeks at varying temperatures. Our beneficial bacteria are primarily mesophilic – they prefer being at temperatures similar to the human body. For that reason, the beneficial bacteria can grow at temperatures up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the product has cleared one preliminary in-house test and a second third-party test, the barrel is prepared for the bottling process.  

Bottling

The bottling process begins with the sanitization of all bottles and lids prior to being filled. This hands-on approach allows time for inspecting each bottle.  

The time spent filling the bottles in the manufacturing facility is enjoyable and allows time for the team to connect and talk about current events or share movie quotes. 

After the bottles are filled and sealed with tamper evident shrink wrap, they take a quick roll through the labeler. The final product is now ready to be tucked into cold storage during the wait for final clearance.  

 Third-Party Testing

This final clearance includes an in-house PCR identification test and third-party testing to confirm the presence of a minimum 8 billion CFUs (Colony Forming Units) per Tablespoon dose, as well as the absence of harmful bacteria.   

Final Product

The final product delivered to our valued customers is an all-natural liquid probiotic including a diverse and broad ecosystem of beneficial bacteria. This complete blend also contains the probiotics’ food source and by-products, including short chain fatty acids, bioactive peptides, amino acids, enzymes, and minerals. Our synergic and resilient probiotics continue to live, thrive, and multiply even after bottling.

Written by Lorilyn Van Dyke, Entegro Health