How Our Holi Color Powder Is Made and Checked

Party GOAT Holi color powder, also sold as color run powder, is made in India, the home of Holi color powder. This page explains how we chose where to make it, how it's made, and how every batch is checked before it reaches you. For ingredients, test results and the Safety Data Sheet, see our Color Powder Safety and Ingredients page.

We chose it by testing it

Before we chose our manufacturer, we tested color powder from many factories in different countries and stain tested every color. We ruled out any factory whose powder stained, or that couldn't confirm 100% food grade corn starch, with no industrial grade starch, or cheap fillers added. Then we dropped any individual colors that were more likely to stain. The range we sell is what passed.

We go and see the factories for ourselves

We have travelled overseas to visit factories in person and compare them side by side: the working conditions, how clean the factory is, and how the powder is mixed, dried and packed. Seeing how the powder is made is the only way we know to be sure of what we're selling.

Oven dried, not field dried

Our color powder is dried in an oven rather than spread out in the open. Open-air drying leaves the powder exposed to road dust, rain, birds and animals such as rodents and cats. Oven drying keeps it covered, gives the factory control over moisture, and helps keep each color bright and consistent from batch to batch.

Food grade corn starch, kept apart from industrial starch

Not all corn starch is the same. Industrial grade starch is made for uses like paper, textiles and adhesives, and isn't produced to food hygiene standards. Food grade starch is. Many color powder factories make two lines, a cheaper one on industrial starch and a premium one on food grade. Our powder is made only with food grade corn starch, and our manufacturer runs any industrial starch production in a separate facility, so it can't end up in our orders.

Food grade starch is made to food safety standards, with strict limits on bacteria, yeast and mold, controlled moisture, and no foreign odor. Industrial starch isn't held to those limits. In color powder, that can show up as a musty or sour smell, more clumping, and a higher risk of contamination. Every batch of ours is checked for smell during inspection before it ships, and our toy safety testing includes microbial cleanliness.

No fillers

Our color powder is food grade corn starch and colorants, and nothing else. It contains no chalk, talc, sand, mica or other fillers. We have watched it being made, and it is independently tested, including for asbestos.

Some color powders, wherever they're made, include cheaper or heavier fillers to bring the cost down. Where a powder is made, packed or labeled doesn't tell you what's in it. What matters is the base material, the colorants and the testing behind it.

Why weight isn't the whole story

You buy color powder by weight, but what you throw is volume. Corn starch is light, so a pound of our powder fills more space and goes further than a pound of powder made with a heavier base. Choose Party GOAT over a powder made with a denser base material and you could get up to a third more powder, by volume, to throw at your event.

One easy way to see the difference: our 34 oz squeeze bottles hold 1.1 lb (500 g) of powder, with just enough room left for air so they squeeze properly. A same-size bottle holding much more powder is likely using a denser base, so it's worth asking what's in it.

Every batch is inspected before it ships

Every batch is inspected at the factory by an independent quality control company, before it leaves India. The inspectors check:

• Pack weight
• Color, against the approved sample
• Smell
• Cleanliness of the powder
• Packing, including that nothing leaks
• Correct labeling
• That squeeze bottles work as they should

If a batch fails, it doesn't ship until the problem has been fixed or the stock replaced, depending on how serious the issue is.

Tested for every market we sell in

Every color is independently toy safety tested by a CPSC-accepted laboratory, to the standard for each market:

• USA: ASTM F963-23 and CPSIA
• Canada: Toys Regulations SOR/2011-17
• Australia and New Zealand: AS/NZS ISO 8124

The Safety Data Sheet and colorant list are on our Color Powder Safety and Ingredients page.

Questions about how our color powder is made? Email sales@partygoat.com.