We travel to far-off lands in our pursuit of pure herbs and spices. Since our 1889 beginnings in Baltimore, it’s been our quest to search for high quality ingredients.
McCormick’s pure cinnamon is just one example, primarily sourced from the central Sumatra region of Indonesia. The cinnamon trees we sustainably harvest can take up to 20 years to develop the high volatile oils that give our cinnamon its warm, sweet, and slightly spicy flavor and rich mahogany color. The cinnamon bark is cut, cleaned, sorted, dried, aged and tested for quality at our Padang facility—then carefully packaged for a trip to the United States. At our mill in Hunt Valley, Maryland, the cinnamon is unloaded, cleaned, blended and bottled. The cinnamon is always tested for quality, consistency, and flavor, like every herb and spice from McCormick.
We source from over 100 countries around the world. That same commitment to quality carries all the way up the supply chain, supported by our stringent food safety standards. It’s an attribute that both you and your customers can taste, and one that can transform your meals from good to great.
Net Zero Black Pepper
McCormick has committed to achieving Net Zero by 2050. Our near-term Purpose-Led Performance goals are time-bound and quantifiable, however, while each has its own methodology for data capture and tracking, some are intrinsically linked. An example of this is the overlap between our goal to sustainably source 100% of our branded top five iconic raw materials (black pepper, cinnamon, oregano, red pepper and vanilla) while simultaneously achieving a 42% reduction in scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. Regenerative agriculture practices go some way towards linking the two.
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When the FDA issued an advisory in 2015 about peanut contamination in cumin, McCormick could assure our customers that no McCormick products were involved. Quality and safety are top priorities, and our investment in these areas is the largest in the spice and seasoning industry.
Where possible we source quality, whole-form spices and herbs. Our sourcing organization has a combined total of more than 100 years of experience in the spice trade. We inspect every lot for extraneous matter, representing several million ingredient and product analyses each year. In addition, our spices are treated through a steaming process.
Great meals start with great flavor, and flavor is at the heart of everything we do at McCormick. We are the Taste You Trust™, in no small part because our quality programs and expertise cover an extensive range of competencies and ingredients, leveraging strategic relationships, GFSI vender certification requirements, and sensory science to guarantee product satisfaction from harvest to production.
Rock legend Joe Strummer got it. When you depend on what the earth provides for survival, you're only hurting yourself if you don't provide in return.
Much of our business grows out of the soil, and it's what keeps us mindful of our role in protecting Earth's resources. Our goals include continuously reducing our global water usage, greenhouse gas emissions, electricity use and solid waste.
Our respect for land and supplier relationships, producers, employees and communities all goes into the quality of the flavors we deliver. And we have the largest quality investment in the spice and seasoning industry.
We're a company of flavor innovators, explorers, trend trackers and researchers. We're also a company of involved citizens, community volunteers, nutrition-conscious parents and family members. All of which informs how we operate as a company and empower our employees—through improving communities, providing healthier flavor solutions, reducing our environmental impact or investing in quality, sustainable agriculture.
