In his CRN Convergence '24 conference presentation, Brian Yam of Blue Ocean Regulatory Inc. discussed how brands can last in Amazon’s marketplace.
To kick off the Convergenge '24 conference, October 9-11, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) first held the WellComms forum—six presentations intended for marketing and communications professionals. In the first presentation, Brian Yam, VP of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Blue Ocean Regulatory Inc. presented, “How To Last in the Amazon Game – How Brands Are Navigating Amazon’s Latest Compliance Requirements.” Yam covered the past, present, and potential future of Amazon requirements.
He first walked through the process of getting a brand on Amazon through a seller’s point of view in order to highlight the compliance and verification issues that naturally arise during this journey. Yam discussed the certification requirements from 2023, in which sellers needed, for example, to provide a certificate of analysis (COA) to Amazon. However, Amazon’s initial requirements enabled the retesting of a product until it produced a passing result, fabrications of a COA, or calculating the amount of an ingredient in a capsule, rather than actually testing for it.
In April 2024, Amazon’s requirements were updated to include new information needed from sellers, such as requiring specific contaminants to be tested for, and for all the required product documentation to be funneled through designated laboratories to verify the results, instead of directly through Amazon. “This was a huge wake up call for the brands,” Yam stated. Brands realized ingredients hadn’t been tested for quantity and the validity of manufacturers’ GMP certification was questioned.
He then presented six best practices for navigating Amazon’s latest requirements for today and for the long term:
As a bonus tip, he explained the overlap between products that are NSF certified and compliance with Amazon’s policies.
Next, Yam explained three potential future directions for Amazon compliance:
Survey finds a lack of enthusiasm about AI technology among food and beverage consumers
December 12th 2024The survey, commissioned by Ingredient Communications and conducted by SurveyGoo, found that 83% of respondent agreed that companies should declare on product labels when a product has been designed or manufactured with the assistance of AI technology.
Kelker Pharma to launch nutritional support system for GLP-1 medication users that features TriBsyn
December 11th 2024B&D Nutritional Ingredients Inc., an exclusive distribution partner of CarnoSyn Brands and Natural Alternatives International Inc., announced that its customer, Kelker Pharma, will be launching the “first science-backed nutritional support system” for GLP-1 medication users, called Nutrilinq Genesis.
Survey finds a lack of enthusiasm about AI technology among food and beverage consumers
December 12th 2024The survey, commissioned by Ingredient Communications and conducted by SurveyGoo, found that 83% of respondent agreed that companies should declare on product labels when a product has been designed or manufactured with the assistance of AI technology.
Kelker Pharma to launch nutritional support system for GLP-1 medication users that features TriBsyn
December 11th 2024B&D Nutritional Ingredients Inc., an exclusive distribution partner of CarnoSyn Brands and Natural Alternatives International Inc., announced that its customer, Kelker Pharma, will be launching the “first science-backed nutritional support system” for GLP-1 medication users, called Nutrilinq Genesis.
2 Commerce Drive
Cranbury, NJ 08512