California Proposition 65 Notice & Disclaimer

1Purpose and scope

This California Proposition 65 Notice & Disclaimer (the “Notice”) explains how Z Natural Foods LLC (“ZNF,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) may provide California chemical-exposure warnings for products, packaging, online listings, catalogs, facilities, communications, and related services. It applies together with any product-, transaction-, channel-, or exposure-specific information and the other ZNF Legal Policies.

Proposition 65 is California's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986. A warning may be visible outside California because websites, packaging, inventory, and distribution systems can serve many locations. Displaying a California warning elsewhere does not admit that California law applies to that person, transaction, product, location, or use.

2What Proposition 65 requires

In general, a business subject to Proposition 65 must provide a “clear and reasonable” warning before knowingly and intentionally causing an exposure to a chemical California lists as causing cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm, unless an exemption, defense, or other legally sufficient basis for not warning applies. The law also restricts certain discharges of listed chemicals into sources of drinking water.

Exposure—not mere detection

California maintains and updates the Proposition 65 list. A listed chemical can be natural or synthetic, intentionally used, unintentionally present, created during manufacturing or cooking, or associated with packaging or equipment. Listing or detecting a chemical does not establish that every product containing any amount requires a warning. The analysis may depend on concentration, serving and use, frequency and duration, route, endpoint, exposure methodology, naturally occurring content, safe-harbor levels, federal preemption, settlements or judgments, and other facts.

Exemptions, burdens, and enforcement

Statutes and regulations include specialized rules, defenses, and exemptions, including a period following a new chemical listing, exposure-based statutory tests, federal-preemption circumstances, and an exclusion from “person in the course of doing business” for a person employing fewer than 10 employees. Applicability is fact-specific, and a party relying on an exposure-based exemption may bear the burden of proof.

California's Attorney General, certain local prosecutors, and qualifying private persons may enforce Proposition 65 under statutory procedures. A notice of alleged violation, laboratory result, demand, complaint, or settlement proposal is an allegation—not by itself a final judicial or governmental finding that a violation occurred, a product is unsafe, or a proposed exposure calculation, warning, or remedy is correct. ZNF reserves all applicable defenses, objections, privileges, exemptions, safe harbors, and procedural protections.

3Why foods, herbs, and dietary supplements may carry warnings

Plants, fungi, algae, minerals, and other natural-source ingredients interact with soil, water, air, and geology. Depending on the ingredient and source, trace amounts of lead, cadmium, arsenic, or another listed chemical may be present. Processing, heating, drying, storage, packaging, and equipment can also affect a chemical profile or create a listed chemical such as acrylamide in some foods.

“Organic,” “natural,” “non-GMO,” “kosher,” and similar terms address defined standards; they do not mean zero Proposition 65-listed chemicals. OEHHA's Foods and Beverages fact sheet explains that environmental substances may occur in foods, including organic foods.

Naturally occurring is a defined legal concept

California has a specific rule for listed chemicals naturally occurring in food; it is not a blanket exemption for everything found in nature. Among other requirements, the naturally occurring portion must not result from known human activity, and avoidable contamination must be reduced through applicable good agricultural and good manufacturing practices to the legally relevant level. The analysis is product- and evidence-specific.

4Product warnings, online sales, formats, and transition rules

ZNF may provide or pass through a warning when law requires it or when available information supports warning as a reasonable compliance measure. Relevant information may include product composition, supplier notices, intended or reasonably foreseeable use, serving information, laboratory data, exposure assessments, legal advice, official guidance, marketplace requirements, notices, settlements, judgments, variability, and other evidence. To the fullest extent permitted by law, ZNF may add, revise, translate, relocate, or discontinue a warning; request information; change a product, supplier, serving, package, channel, or destination; or restrict or cancel a transaction.

A legally appropriate method depends on the product, exposure, and channel. It may include a product label, labeling, sign, shelf tag, electronic process, online product-page warning or clearly marked warning link, catalog warning, pre-purchase notice, supply-chain materials, or another lawful method. For internet purchases, California's safe-harbor rules require the warning on the product display page, through a clearly marked warning link, or otherwise prominently before purchase; a warning is not prominent if the purchaser must search the website's general content. Catalog warnings likewise must be clearly associated with the item.

Where covered consumer information is presented in another language, a warning must also be provided in that language when California's rules require it. A generic or machine-translated policy is not a substitute for a reviewed product-specific translation.

January 1, 2025 amendments and transition

Amended safe-harbor rules took effect January 1, 2025. The new short form names at least one relevant chemical and is expressly available for food products. Transition provisions may permit certain products manufactured and labeled before January 1, 2028 to use prior short-form content regardless of when sold; a limited 60-day online-update rule may apply to qualifying retailers during the transition. Eligibility must be evaluated under the current regulation and facts.

Authorized food warnings may use WARNING, CA WARNING, or CALIFORNIA WARNING. Unlike the general consumer-product safe-harbor format, the food-warning provisions do not necessarily require the warning-triangle symbol. These hypothetical lead examples illustrate current food-warning wording only; the actual product warning controls and may name other chemicals, address one endpoint, use another authorized format, or be governed by a tailored warning, settlement, judgment, or later rule.

5What a warning means, testing, and uncertainty

A warning communicates a potential exposure; it is not a product ban, recall, defect determination, safety certification, medical diagnosis, or finding of injury. A warning does not necessarily mean a product violates FDA, USDA, EPA, another federal standard, or a non-California law. Federal compliance does not automatically eliminate Proposition 65 duties unless valid preemption applies. Neither the presence nor absence of a warning is a universal certification about every chemical, use, person, or jurisdiction.

Proposition 65 warning regulations do not require one particular laboratory test. OEHHA has established No Significant Risk Levels (“NSRLs”) for some carcinogens and Maximum Allowable Dose Levels (“MADLs”) for some reproductive toxicants. A chemical without a published safe-harbor level is not automatically prohibited, and the absence of a level does not itself decide whether warning is required.

Laboratory and exposure results may vary with sampling plan, lot heterogeneity, preparation, digestion or extraction, method, reporting limit, recovery, calibration, uncertainty, serving assumptions, route, duration, body-weight model, naturally occurring analysis, and statistical treatment. A concentration result is not automatically a daily exposure. ZNF may consider competent data and professional analysis but does not warrant that every lot has been tested for every listed chemical or that any result can be generalized beyond its stated sample, method, and purpose.

Product and regulatory facts change. Ingredients vary by harvest, origin, supplier, formula, process, packaging, serving, and use; chemical listings, safe-harbor levels, scientific information, enforcement positions, and regulations may also change. Nothing here promises zero exposure, a particular test outcome, or suitability for every person or use.

6Consumer choices and practical questions

• Review the product page, clearly marked warning link, label, serving information, ingredients, directions, and accompanying materials before purchase and use.
• Follow labeled serving, preparation, handling, and storage instructions; do not assume that more is better.
• If you are pregnant, nursing, under medical care, giving a product to a child, or concerned about an exposure, ask a qualified healthcare professional who knows your circumstances.
• For official chemical and exposure-reduction information, use the OEHHA resources in Section 11.
• If a warning seems missing, inconsistent, or inaccessible, pause before purchase where practical and contact us with the product name, URL, SKU, lot, sales channel, and destination.

These suggestions are general information, not medical, toxicological, or legal advice. In an emergency or suspected poisoning, contact emergency services or Poison Control as appropriate.

7Wholesale, private-label, resale, and downstream responsibilities

This section applies to distributors, wholesalers, resellers, retailers, marketplace sellers, brokers, importers, exporters, private-label customers, co-packers, manufacturers, formulators, blenders, repackagers, relabelers, food-service operators, institutional buyers, and other commercial intermediaries (“Business Customers”). Their activities—including blending, concentrating, diluting, extracting, heating, cooking, fermenting, combining, changing a serving or use, making new claims, repackaging, or relabeling—may change the relevant exposure and create independent duties.

Subject to mandatory law and any signed agreement, a Business Customer must evaluate the laws applicable to its products, activities, channels, and destinations; preserve, display, and pass through warnings and warning materials without obscuring or altering them; keep required product-warning associations in stores, catalogs, and online; provide required translations; maintain appropriate records; promptly communicate information that may affect a warning; and cooperate with lawful investigation, preservation, correction, withdrawal, recall, defense, or compliance measures.

Supply-chain notices and allocation

California Code of Regulations, title 27, section 25600.2 permits specified supply-chain businesses to use compliant product labeling or a written notice and warning materials sent to an authorized agent, with electronic or written confirmation of receipt, annual renewal and confirmation while the product is sold in California, and an additional notice within 90 days when a different or additional chemical name or endpoint is added. It also permits written agreements allocating warning responsibility if the consumer receives a legally sufficient warning before exposure. The current regulation and facts—not this summary—control.

Any warning-allocation, defense, indemnification, insurance, notice, cooperation, or dispute provision in the Terms of Use, quote, purchase document, disclosure, or signed agreement applies to the fullest extent permitted by law. No agreement or website notice erases a non-waivable statutory duty or substitutes for a required product warning. For wholesale or private-label questions, contact BulkSales@ZNaturalFoods.com before finalizing the label or sales plan.

8Other jurisdictions, transaction controls, and evolving law

This Notice addresses California Proposition 65. It does not replace product-specific duties under federal, Tribal, state, local, or non-U.S. food, supplement, chemical, contaminant, packaging, labeling, advertising, product-safety, traceability, import, recall, accessibility, or consumer-protection law. Other laws may use different lists, thresholds, definitions, warnings, languages, symbols, records, responsible parties, and enforcement processes.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, ZNF may request customer, destination, use, importer, or resale information; require an agreement; adapt packaging, documentation, warnings, or sales practices; or restrict a product, customer class, use, destination, or channel. A listing, quote, acceptance, shipment, or warning is not a representation that a product may be lawfully imported, advertised, relabeled, reformulated, resold, or used for every purpose everywhere. Business Customers remain responsible for the activities and finished products they control, subject to mandatory law and signed agreements.

ZNF may revise this Notice and product warnings as statutes, regulations, listings, safe-harbor levels, science, testing, products, suppliers, servings, marketplaces, operations, official guidance, settlements, judgments, or standards change. Proposed rules and bills are not binding before adoption and applicability. If a new mandatory requirement validly applies before this text is updated, it controls to the extent of conflict, subject to lawful transition periods, defenses, exemptions, and alternative compliance methods.

9Accessibility, effective communication, and privacy

This fragment is designed toward WCAG 2.2 Level AA with semantic headings and landmarks, keyboard-operable controls, visible focus, underlined green links, responsive reflow, text-resizing support, reduced-motion and forced-colors handling, and print styling. Its essential legal text and links remain available if JavaScript is unavailable. The optional ZNF Accessibility Platform may provide additional personalization, but it is not the only way to receive help.

If a barrier interferes with a warning or purchase decision, contact accessibility@znaturalfoods.com, call 1-888-963-6637, or review the Accessibility Statement. Please describe the barrier, page or product, and requested assistance; you need not provide a diagnosis or unnecessary medical information. We will work in good faith toward effective communication or a reasonable alternative where required and reasonably available.

No fragment or widget alone can certify the complete Shopify theme, tab controller, checkout, third-party app, marketplace, browser, device, or assistive-technology combination. Nothing here limits a non-waivable right under applicable disability or accessibility law.

Information sent with an inquiry

If you contact us, we may use information reasonably necessary to identify the product, respond, investigate, meet legal duties, preserve evidence, prevent misuse, and protect rights. Do not send passwords, authentication codes, full payment-card data, government identifiers, or unrelated medical records. The Privacy Policy and applicable addenda govern personal information; visit Your Privacy Choices to understand available rights and controls.

10Policy coordination, disclaimers, and preservation of rights

This Notice is part of the coordinated ZNF Legal Policies. The Terms of Use provide the general framework for Site use, contract formation, governing law, dispute resolution, arbitration and class-action waiver where enforceable, limitations, disclaimers, indemnity, survival, and risk allocation. This Notice controls its Proposition 65-specific subject matter to the extent expressly stated. The complete valid product-specific warning controls its chemical, endpoint, method, and product details. A signed transaction-specific agreement may allocate duties as law permits. Mandatory non-waivable law controls over a direct conflict.

Providing a warning, this Notice, testing information, assistance, or a response is not an admission that ZNF or another person violated or is subject to a law; that a warning was required in every circumstance; that a chemical is present at a stated level; that an actionable exposure or injury occurred; or that a product is unsafe, defective, adulterated, misbranded, or unsuitable. This Notice creates no warranty, certification, fiduciary duty, professional relationship, third-party beneficiary, or duty beyond applicable law or an authorized signed agreement. It is general information, not legal, medical, toxicological, laboratory, import, or regulatory advice.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, ZNF reserves every claim, defense, exemption, safe harbor, procedural protection, privilege, limitation, allocation, remedy, and right. Nothing restricts a non-waivable right to contact a regulator, court, tribunal, healthcare professional, Poison Control, or emergency service. If a provision is invalid or inapplicable, it will be limited or severed only as necessary; the rest continues to the fullest extent permitted by law. A later general update does not retroactively reduce an accrued non-waivable right.

11Official resources and contact

Official materials may change independently of this Notice. Current law and a legally effective product-specific warning control over this summary.

• Proposition 65 consumer website and consumer FAQ
• Current Proposition 65 chemical list
• Proposition 65 law and regulations
• 2025 warning amendments and transition
• OEHHA NSRL and MADL information
• OEHHA notices and rulemaking developments

Let us work with you

We welcome respectful questions. For the fastest review, include the product name, product-page address, SKU, lot or batch code, purchase channel, order number if relevant, destination, and specific warning question. Do not send a physical product unless we first authorize it and provide instructions.

• Consumer and order questionsOrders@ZNaturalFoods.com
• Wholesale and private labelBulkSales@ZNaturalFoods.com
• Accessibility supportaccessibility@znaturalfoods.com
• Telephone1-888-963-6637
• Online supportContact Customer Care
• MailZ Natural Foods LLC
  5407 N Haverhill Rd, Unit 336
  West Palm Beach, FL 33407, USA