A hangover from the negative publicity of the past year has stalled M&A and financing activity in dietary supplements, even as this activity booms in other categories of the health and wellness space, according to investment group Nutrition Capital...
Three of the trade organizations representing the dietary supplement business came together in Utah this week to lend support to plans to extend the industry’s self regulation capabilities.
GNC’s new raw material GMPs, announced as a final intent if not in final form at an industry event this week, is “a concept whose time has come,” according to CEO Mike Archbold.
GNC has announced a GMP plan for botanicals which it is implementing immediately for its suppliers. The company hopes the plan, announced at an industry meeting on Tuesday, will become a blueprint for the industry.
The New York Attorney General’s controversial probe into dietary supplements has hastened the conversation about transparency, experts told attendees to our recent Transparency in Dietary Supplements forum.
Traceability and verifiability were big topics at the GOED Exchange meeting that took place last week in the Canary Islands. These topics will be addressed in an online forum later this week hosted by NutraIngredients-USA.
Proactively educating attorneys general and candidates running for the position about the positive attributes and contributions of dietary supplements could help industry stay out of their litigation cross-hairs in the future, advise two former AGs.
A recently aired media report once again seemed to elevate DNA testing to magic bullet status. It’s a development that dismays Danica Harbaugh Reynaud, PhD, one of the foremost experts in the DNA testing of plants.
The American Herbal Products Association and the United Natural Products Alliance have teamed up to engage state attorneys general who as a group have become more active in regards to the dietary supplement industry.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has retracted a report it aired recently alleging spiking and missing ingredients in supplements because it was based on faulty test results.
Special edition: Transparency in Dietary Supplements
The NY AG’s probe into herbal supplements has done a lot to change the industry conversation over transparency, and some practices by some industry members cannot continue because they jeopardize the entire business community, say industry experts.
An article in a scientific journal that equates the dietary supplement industry’s interaction with regulators to that of the tobacco industry has been called “scurrilous” and “reckless” by industry observers.
The Natural Products Association enters its 80th year as the premier organization dedicated solely to the natural products industry in 2016. For those 80- years, our top priority has been and always will be enhancing, expanding and protecting our members’...
More specific training for herbalists as a way to bolster professional bona fides could go a long way toward burnishing the herbal industry’s image with the medical community, though it might not mean as much to consumers, a leader educator says.
By Steve Mister, president & CEO, the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN)
What a difference a year makes! Last January at this time, who in the industry would have predicted the New York Attorney General (AG) debacle in February? Or Senator Dick Durbin’s dietary supplement amendments on the defense authorization bill in May?...
Doping scandals in the sports realm have had a hangover effect for dietary supplements, one longtime industry observer asserts. In his view it has created a climate in which decision makers have more easily bought in to the narrative of a dangerously...
By Daniel Fabricant, PhD, Executive Director and CEO of the Natural Products Association
Heading into 2015 I was optimistic about our industry’s ability to win political victories and expand the effectiveness of its grassroots operations. My thinking turned out to be spot on, as we certainly had our work cut out for us this year.
The actions of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman have put an unprecedented pressure on the dietary supplement business, especially those companies dealing in herbal products.
Sales of dietary supplements and herbal supplements are up about 4% and 17%, respectively, for 2015 compared to 2014, according to new data from SPINS provided to NutraIngredients-USA.
By Karen Howard, CEO and Executive Director, Organic & Natural Health Association
It has been proclaimed “nature abhors a vacuum.” In the transition to modern times, this scientific theory is more commonly used to explain why inaction results in action. Perhaps the major events of the past year are the result of the natural products...
As we enter the twilight days of 2015 the editors of NutraIngredients-USA become a reflective bunch. A lot of things happened this year, and here is our top 10 of most important events of the year…
Increased scrutiny of dietary supplements by the media, regulators and legislators is an opportunity to talk about quality and authenticity and should not be a concern, says the President of NBTY Americas.
The Natural Products Association is making its TruLabel registration database available to the industry for voluntary registration and the general public with a new online portal database set to be launched in early 2016.
Beefing up supply chain management has been a mantra in dietary supplement industry meetings over recent months. For that to be most effective, it needs to include a consideration of supply partners’ business practices, experts say.
The recent coordinated crackdown by federal regulators on the dietary supplement industry shined a harsh light on supply chain vulnerabilities. Finding the sort of fraudulent ingredients mentioned during Tuesday’s news conference is complicated by the...
Despite pressure on the industry to rapidly adopt some form of DNA testing, the old question still remains: Methods must be fit for purpose for the products being tested. Attendees at a recent industry event were told that there’s still no quick answer...
The mounting pressure on supply chain verification means it’s time for more companies in the dietary supplements industry to consider building and staffing their own labs, said NOW Foods exec Aaron Secrist.
GNC laid out a blueprint for the dietary supplement industry for a quality initiative including pre-market product registration at a meeting last week in Salt Lake City. The initiative builds upon GNC’s agreement with the NY AG office and is meant to...
Attention from State Attorneys General is expected to continue and even increase, with a recent meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General’s in St Louis hosting a public session on herbal supplements.
The Vitamin Shoppe CEO Colin Watts said a slow pace of innovation in the supplements industry has hurt the company, which has relied on a rapid pace of new product launches to keep its shelves fresh. The company reported third quarter earnings that were...
Costa Mesa, CA-based Alkemist Labs is adding Next Generation DNA Sequencing to its arsenal of testing capabilities, in response to customer demand for the technology.
GNC’s stock value took a significant hit following the release of disappointing third quarter earnings. The company finds itself between the rock of investigations by state attorneys general and the hard place of a turnaround effort that is proving more...
The declaration from FDA on picamilon that formed part of the lawsuit filed by the Oregon Attorney General sets a troubling precedent, said Steve Mister of the Council for Responsible Nutrition.
The lawsuit filed by the Oregon Attorney General raises overall risk for the supplements industry and could mean that a number of niche ingredients could disappear from the market, experts said.
The recent Bayer victory in its case with the FTC is a positive for industry, but it is not going to solve all of the industry’s FTC problems, says Dr Daniel Fabricant, CEO and Executive Director of the Natural Products Association.
The New York Attorney General is now approaching the supplements industry from three directions – commercial, scientific, and legal – says Loren Israelsen. But what does this mean and what’s next?
The attacks on the dietary supplement industry orchestrated by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman have had beneficial effect, said American Botanical Council founder Mark Blumenthal. There is no denying the quality temperature is rising.
Marketing botanical reference materials (BRMs) is no way to get rich. But that hasn’t stopped some in industry, such as Alkemist Labs, from offering an expanded line of these products to meet the anticipated greater demand as a result of recent pressures.
Fundamental changes in the media landscape are affecting how reporters cover the natural products and dietary supplement industries. Employment at media outlets has fallen steeply, meaning reporters have less time to do their jobs than ever.
The NY Attorney General’s focus on DNA barcoding may actually be making quality worse, says Frank Jaksch, CEO of ChromaDex, and the focus should be on supply chain management and not analytical techniques.
Traceability and sustainability are the new touchstones of the herbal products industry. Gaia Herbs has been at the forefront of this trend, said executive Todd King.
The application of DNA barcoding to herbal supplements - which in the hands of the NY AG has been used as a bludgeon - could be turned into a significant boon for the industry, said United Natural Products Alliance president Loren Israelsen. The organization...
Novel Ingredient Services plans to launch an updated thermogenic ingredient for supplements and functional foods at the upcoming Supply Side West trade show. In addition, the company will highlight a new DNA testing regimen for incoming raw material.
Nailing down a precise nomenclature for herbs is a complicated undertaking, and the best good faith efforts of industry may have unwittingly given an opening to the NY AG Eric Schneiderman in his continuing offensive against the dietary supplement industry.
Increased testing demands, more competition from abroad and potential greater liability because of the increasing scrutiny the dietary supplement business has come under in recent months have all conspired to shake up the contract manufacturing market.
It started with cease and desist letters to four major retailers and then grew and grew. A lot has happened since NY AG Eric Schneiderman launched his investigation into herbal supplement quality.
NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has sent cease and desist letters to 13 companies marketing devil’s claw supplements claiming the products fraudulently mixed one species of the botanical with a closely related species. Herbal experts, however, say...
