Better Health for All

Balchem's core business includes products with substantial health benefits, such as its Human Nutrition & Health and Animal Nutrition & Health segments, which reached 1.1 billion people in 2023

and launched four new products in 2024. These products, including Vitamin K2, are supported by clinical trials showing benefits for bone health, cardiovascular health, and alleviating long COVID symptoms. However, the company's Specialty Products segment utilizes chemicals like ethylene oxide and propylene oxide for medical sterilization and fumigation, which are classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and toxic, representing a significant negative health impact. The company demonstrates exceptional risk transparency by providing detailed Safety Data Sheets for these hazardous chemicals, which disclose severe hazards and regulatory requirements, and by transparently reporting nuanced clinical trial results in peer-reviewed journals. Balchem maintains an outstanding product safety record with zero product recalls in 2023. For nutrition and food safety, the company holds multiple certifications including Safe Quality Food, National Sanitation Foundation, and ISO 9001 for human nutrition, and Safe Feed/Safe Food for animal nutrition, alongside sourcing 100% RSPO-certified palm oil and 47.3% UTZ certified cocoa. The company contributed to global health crisis response by participating in a clinical trial for long COVID symptoms. Clinical trials are conducted ethically, utilizing randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled designs and published in peer-reviewed journals. Despite these efforts, Balchem faces significant health-harming externalities, including an ongoing EPA Superfund site remediation at a Missouri facility, and generated 748.37 MT of hazardous waste in 2023, though 98.6% was recycled or reused.

Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

Balchem Corporation operates in the specialty performance ingredients and products industry, serving sectors such as food, nutrition, feed, pharmaceutical, and medical sterilization. The company's core business does not involve lending, insuring, moving, or storing money, nor does it offer consumer credit products or financial services.

The provided articles focus on sustainability reports and supply chain disclosures, offering no evidence related to financial services. , , Therefore, all KPIs under the 'Fair Money & Economic Opportunity' ethical value are scored 0, as the company's operations fall outside the scope of financial institutions, as per the rubric's 'Not applicable' definitions for each KPI.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

For fiscal year 2024, the CEO to median employee pay ratio was 120:1.

In 2024, 17% of employees were covered by collective bargaining agreements. The Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) was 1.39 in 2023. The voluntary employee turnover rate in 2024 was 9% for salaried employees and 21% for hourly employees. The company has had three substantiated workplace safety or health violations in the past three years: an OSHA workplace safety or health violation in 2023 ($136,875), another in 2023 ($78,125), and one in 2021 ($105,127).

Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing

Balchem has reported zero substantiated forced or child labor incidents in the last three years, and its Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement and Human Rights Policy reject involuntary labor, child labor, and human trafficking.

All raw material suppliers are required to endorse Balchem's Supplier Code of Conduct, which mandates suppliers to protect human rights, ensure healthy labor conditions, fair treatment, and competitive compensation. However, Balchem does not require direct suppliers to certify that materials comply with laws regarding slavery and human trafficking. The company states that tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold are not necessary for the functionality or production of its products, and it does not import such minerals or metals into the European Union.

Kind to Animals

Balchem has an Animal Testing Policy that commits to refraining from conducting studies involving animals, except when required for regulatory approval or to ensure product safety and efficacy when non-animal alternatives are not viable.

The company also states a commitment to the principles of the 3 Rs framework (Replace, Reduce, Refine) for animal testing.

No War, No Weapons

The provided articles do not contain specific, quantifiable evidence to assess Balchem Corporation against the 'No War, No Weapons' ethical value. There is no information regarding revenue from arms contracts, dual-use technology investment, sales to embargoed regimes, peacebuilding investment, conflict divestment policies, board oversight of defense activities, export end-user certificates, lobbying on arms control, humanitarian procurement compliance, human rights due diligence in conflict areas, Arms Trade Treaty compliance, AI military safeguards, UN Guiding Principles alignment, dual-use item screening, surveillance transparency, ethical red lines, exposure to controversial weapons, war-risk audit results, annual conflict partner reviews, defense divestment, peace tech investment ratio, conflict zone procurement, or ethical red lines compliance rate.

While the company's Supplier Code of Conduct mentions compliance with trade restrictions and export controls, it does not provide performance data on actual sales or the effectiveness of these controls. Similarly, the company states it does not use conflict minerals, but no percentage of the supply chain certified conflict-free is provided.

Planet-Friendly Business

Balchem Corporation reported total Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions of 522,834 tCO₂e in 2024.

The company achieved a 32% absolute reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions from its 2020 baseline, exceeding its 2030 goal, though Scope 3 emissions increased by 5% from 2023. The company has Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction targets for 2030, but they are not explicitly stated as SBTi-validated. In 2024, 14.95% of total energy consumption was from renewable sources, representing a 5% increase year-over-year. The company reused or recycled 92% of hazardous waste in 2024. For biodiversity, 100% of palm oil is sourced from RSPO-certified sources, and 47.7% of cocoa was certified in 2024. Water intensity was 15.1 cubic meters per ton of product produced in 2024. Total water withdrawal was 3.4 million cubic meters, a 15% reduction from the 2020 baseline. Regarding water stress, 2.1% of water withdrawal comes from regions with high or extremely high baseline water stress. The company has faced multiple environmental and safety violations, with a total of $661,232 in environment-related penalties since 2000, including a $650,000 penalty for an air pollution violation in 2024.

Respect for Cultures & Communities

Balchem attempted to trademark "Juneteenth" for food and beverage products on September 2, 2021, which was presented as a cultural appropriation incident.

The company provides an Ethics and Compliance Hotline, available 24/7 in multiple languages, for reporting concerns. Additionally, 100% of Balchem's manufacturing facilities actively engage with and contribute to the communities they operate in.

Safe & Smart Tech

Balchem Corporation reports no material adverse effects from past cybersecurity threats.

The company provides semi-annual cybersecurity training for all users with access to IT systems and conducts regular phishing simulations. Its privacy policy outlines user rights to access, correct, delete, and transfer data, subject to applicable law, and states that data is retained only as necessary, consistent with retention policies and applicable laws. The company proactively tests attack vectors using automated systems and conducts annual security testing by an independent third party. Balchem also mentions compliance with the NIST framework.

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

Balchem Corporation's subsidiary, Albion Laboratories, received a hazardous waste violation penalty of $11,232 in 2020.

While this indicates a past issue with hazardous waste management, there is no evidence of any waste disposal violations within the last three years (2022-2024).