For decades, brands have shipped American-grown crops overseas for extraction and processing—only to re-import them as finished ingredients. Now, the botanical extract manufacturer has opened its doors to offer large-scale botanical extraction capabilities in the Midwest.
“We’re having a very open and transparent event for our customers and future customers to show them the facility, to let them know what the capabilities are, what our capacities are and what our future capacities can be,” said Chris Smith, director of strategic operations & supply chain at Biovivo Science, a subsidiary of Layn Corp.
Smith explained the facility’s capabilities include over 2,000 metric tons of annual powdered extract outputs, powered by fully integrated processes—extraction, concentration and purification, crystallization, spray drying, pulverization, granulation and pre-mix & blending —with peak processing capacity exceeding 6,000 metric tons per year and tolling services available.
“Our first and one product we’re really excited about is American ginseng,” Smith said. “We’re [also] going to do high-intensity sweeteners such as Stevia, [as well as] broccoli seed and saw palmetto. There’s a host of botanicals that we’re looking at, but out of the gate, we’re looking at launching with American ginseng.”
With a fully traceable supply chain, the company said the new facility is a significant step toward strengthening global supply chains, driving local innovation and supporting the booming dietary supplement industry, as well as food, beverage, personal care and pet nutrition industries.
“We’re here to offer an American-made, U.S.-made product,” Smith said. “We’re here to help with the tariffs. We’re here to help with supply chain. We’re here to help streamline all of that from start to finish.”
Logistics, opportunity and Southern charm
While Biovivo’s new facility sits in an industrial area known as an innovation hub with easy connectivity to major highways, the region also offers Southern charm. Just 20 miles away is Churchill Downs, a cornerstone of the Thoroughbred racing industry and host of the Kentucky Derby.
“The thoroughbred racehorse is the pinnacle of the equine athletes,” said Kelly Vineyard, PhD, an equine nutritionist at EquiVine PhD Nutrition. “They are treated just like any human athlete would be. So, yes, horse athletes need really good nutrition. And part of a good nutrition program is targeted supplementation to maximize performance.
“Biovivo is really focused on using natural botanicals to enhance health, well-being and performance. And there’s certainly a tie when you’re talking about athletes and when you’re talking about athletic performance. Anything that we can do, especially with these horses, to really give them a little bit of an edge, especially if it comes from something natural. And that’s going to help them recover from exercise more quickly or combat oxidative stress. That’s going to be a positive for the equine athlete for sure.”
Looking around at Churchill Downs, industry veteran Jim Roza harkened back to the 1980s when he first learned about trainers supplementing their horses.
“One of my first jobs was managing a health food store in Cicero, Illinois,” said Roza, VP of technical services at Biovivo. “Now, Cicero, Illinois just happened to be the home of two racetracks, Sportsman’s and Hawthorne. And so when I first began managing that store, I had fellows come in who had wads of cash asking about, can they buy amino acids in bulk? Can they buy this particular vitamin in bulk?”
Roza explained that these inquiring minds were actually horse trainers interested in purchasing resveratrol, arginine, amino acids and more. Roza later went on to research and develop formulas for equines to support their cardiovascular, respiratory and immune systems.
Roza’s experience would prove beneficial. Biovivo has a division specifically focused on pet and animal nutrition. It’s part of the company’s sustainability program, which utilizes input material that becomes biomass output material.
“There’s a big draw and a big demand for that material to eventually turn into an animal feed supplement,” Smith said.
Opportunities abound
While Biovivo doesn’t work directly with Churchill Downs, it’s just one example of the many opportunities the area has to offer. The company says it’s actively working to build partnerships in animal nutrition and beyond.
“When we started the company, we built it with the future in mind,” Smith said. “We actually bought a 25-acre lot. We’re only built on a quarter of that lot. So we’ve got plenty of room for expansion capacity. So we’re open for not only ingredient manufacturing and bulk ingredient production, but we’re open for tolling opportunities, open for future partnerships and for innovative new products leading down the road.”
Roza said Biovivo is somewhat of an anomaly, considering most of the botanical extraction has been done overseas.
“There are very few companies that are doing botanical extraction,” he said. “Right now we’re at a pivotal point with the nutraceutical industry’s trajectory, because it continues to grow and grow and grow, but we have issues with economics, tariffs, of course, some of the regulatory issues that are emanating out of Washington. It’s really a prime time to start to take ownership of some of the things that we’ve outsourced to other countries and bring it back here to the U.S.”
