News

Nutraceuticals International LLC (Elmwood Park, NJ) has opened its third office, in Guadalajara, Mexico. The office will be run by new sales-team member Arturo Elias. The company says that the new office will help increase its footprint in Latin America.

Tahitian Noni (Provo, UT) has received its third Novel Food approval from the European Commission on Food Safety. Not only are the company's noni juice and noni leaf approved as novel foods in the European Union, but now so are its noni concentrates and puree. All of these forms can now be sold in the European Union.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials have again confirmed that ingredient supplier Jungbunzlauer's Ladenburg, Germany, facility complies with current good manufacturing practices. The compliance applies to all Ladenburg products, including citric acid, tripotassium citrate, trimagnesium citrate, tricalcium citrate, calcium lactate gluconate, Citrofol (citric acid esters), and other products.

BI Nutraceuticals' (BI; Long Beach, CA) manufacturing facility in Islandia, NY, has been organic certified by Quality Assurance International. The facility is now approved to manufacture and distribute certified-organic vitamin premixes, custom blends, and granulated or roller-compacted ingredients. (The company's Long Beach, CA, facility was organic-certified in 2004.)

Earlier this week, manufacturer Haloteco (Los Angeles) announced a voluntary nationwide recall of its product Libipower Plus, according to FDA (Rockville, MD). The recall came when FDA reported finding tadalalafil in lab analysis of product samples.

Gaia Herbs (Gaia; Brevard, NC) announces today that it is now a member of the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA; Salt Lake City).

Supplements firm Central Coast Nutraceuticals (CCN; Phoenix) has been fined $1,375,000 for alleged deceptive online marketing practices in a State of Arizona consumer fraud lawsuit.

New research suggests that some of the daily nutrients we seek are actually influenced by other nutrients, according to reports in July’s Harvard Health Letter.

Researchers at Fuji Chemical Industry (Fuji; Toyama, Japan) are researching the supplement AstaREAL astaxanthin for its potential to cure asthenopia, commonly known as eye fatigue, reports its U.S. subsidiary Fuji Health Science (Burlington, NJ).

A recent study on the effects of quercetin proves the plant pigment found in red wine and apples is still of scientific interest.

Fusion Formulations (Fusion; Phoenix) has announced an estimated quadrupling of its capacity for liquid manufacturing as a result of recent investments in production equipment that will create higher and faster output of products.

Chemi SpA (Chemi; Milan, Italy) has announced that its manufacturing facility, ITF Chemical Ltda, (ITF; Camacari, Bahia, Brazil) has been granted “acceptable status” after an inspection was conducted by HHS (Washington, DC) on its construction of new R&D and QC facilities.

The United Fresh Produce Association (United Fresh; Washington, DC) is urging member companies and the produce sector at large to enact change for what United Fresh thinks can be a transformative year in the industry.

A new United Nations report may have some small food companies feeling left in the cold. The World Health Organization (WHO; Geneva) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO; Rome) wrote a report that warns of the adverse effects that may occur impending food safety standards put on smaller companies.

IBM (Armonk, NY) has released a survey indicating significant levels of consumer anxiety in the U.S. surrounding grocery shopping, reports MediaPost News.

The biotechnology company Redpoint (Ewing, NJ) has announced that it has developed a new all-natural sweetener, RP44. Redpoint claims RP44 “demonstrated enhancement results” with common sweeteners, including sucrose, fructose, and high-fructose corn syrup.

DSM (Basel, Switzerland) and Lonza (Basel, Switzerland) have announced an extension of their partnership in Swiss production facilities in the districts of Visp and Lalden, the companies announced today.

In a conference with attorneys general on June 18, USADA (Colorado Springs, CO) CEO Travis Tygart called for state-level action in dealing with steroid contamination in supplements, according to the Associated Press.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced the distribution of $176 million in Recovery Act funding to research laboratories in 29 states, according to the Agricultural Research Service (ARS; Washington, DC).

Effective June 15, 2009, chemical company BASF (Florham Park, NJ) will charge an increase of 5 cents per pound on all of its grades of Styropor and Neopor expandable polystyrene.

A nationwide recall of all Toll House cookie dough products has been announced due to the risk of E. coli infection, according to Nestlé USA (Nestlé; Glendale, CA).

Agricultural Research Service (ARS; Washington, DC) scientists have discovered that an avian bacterium, Bordetella hinzii, has been doing more damage to turkeys than previously assumed.

According to a study by the Organic Trade Association (OTA; Greenfield, MA) and Kiwi Magazine, families in the United States are now spending significantly more money on organic products than in years past.

Matt J. Whitworth, acting U.S Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that Sally Qing Miller and Stephen S. Miller, owners of pet food supplier ChemNutra, Inc. (Las Vegas), have pleaded guilty on federal charges for selling adulterated and misbranded pet food.

Rising consumer interest in eco-friendly products-not to mention recent food scares-is encouraging food manufacturers to take on more natural approaches when it comes to selling products.

As plenty of markets take spills in the midst of international economic downturn, one industry is managing to thrive: the dairy industry.

According to data supplied by IRI of Chicago, Illinois, sales of herbal dietary supplements in the food, drug, and mass market (FDM) channel increased by 7.16% in 2008 from 2007 sales, for a total figure of $289,248,200.