New associations changing the face of supplements industry

This week the International Probiotics Association (IPA), (founding and industry members including Jarrow Formulas, Institut Rosell/Lallemand, Morinaga Milk Industry, DSM Nutritional Products, Danisco, Chr Hansen, Fonterra and BioGaia) unveiled plans for its first world congress in November 2007.

The announcement comes just a week after the formation of the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3 (GOED), a group of suppliers that are keen to see regulations reflect scientific advances and protect product quality - as well as ensure differentiation between the different forms of omega-3 in the minds of consumer and members of the broader food and supplements industry.

Maintaining reasonable relations with the competition is a facet of good business - even though in today's litigious world the notion of friendly competition may be marred by matters like patent or trademark infringements, for instance.

In an environment where the respectable majority has to protect its reputation against detrimental factors, such alliances seem to make sense and indicate a mature acceptance of common interest.

While the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) and the Natural Products Association look out for the interests of broad membership bases (and the American Herbal Products Association to a lesser extent, since its membership is less broad, made up of herbal suppliers), IPA and GOED are different since they are ingredient specific and the organising elements are the companies themselves.

Sure, GOED sprung out of the CRN's omega-3 working group, but it the companies are stepping up to provide the impetus going forward.

A third example of an ingredient-specific association is ADM and Acatris Health's (now owned by Frutarom) formation last November of the Flax Lignan Association to support the science behind standardized flax lignan ingredients and protect them from the risk to their credibility posed by unscrupulous suppliers.

The supplements and healthy and natural ingredients industry is perhaps more friendly than most, since companies have another aim beyond just reporting a healthy balance sheet - that is, giving consumers the means and information to improve their health and reduce the risk of lifestyle-related illnesses through dietary means.

Of course, tensions do exist. Sometimes they are driven by financial considerations, but this is tied to concerns that consumers are somehow being duped or misled.

Amongst the founding companies of GOED are Cargill, Ocean Nutrition Canada, Denomega, Martek Biosciences and Nutrinova (now owned by Lonza). At one level, these players are competing for a share of the burgeoning DHA/EPA market. But at another, they recognize the importance of banding together to protect the category.

In most other industries - and in other sectors of the food industry, too - it is hard to imagine competitors joining forces.

Legendary rivals Coca Cola and PepsiCo are unlikely to trade association to protect the interests of fizzy drink makers - although interestingly they recently cooperated on an FBI sting operation to apprehend the perpetrators of a plan to sell Coca Cola's trade secrets to PepsiCo.

But in natural products and supplements in the US, this tradition of joining forces to protect the common interests may have its roots in the legislation that governs the industry.

The 1994 Dietary Supplements and Education Act, commonly known as DSHEA, was born out of efforts to retain consumer access to supplements and ensure high quality standards, without having them subject to the same restrictive pre-market restrictions as pharmaceuticals.

Many of those who helped shaped DSHEA - and many more who claim to have played a role - are still on the industry scene today, and underlying ethos of DSHEA seems have more of an effect on industry attitudes beyond legislation and government lobbying.