Xlear
CapsCanada
Non-GMO

Non-GMO: What Does the Future Hold?

by Shari Barbanel | April 6, 2015

The Participants Are:

Ramona Billingslea
Marketing Manager
Betsy’s Health Food
Two stores in Houston, TX
www.betsyhealth.com

Linda Kahler
President Rainbow Light Nutritional Systems
Santa Cruz, CA
www.rainbowlight.com

Neil E. Levin, CCN, DANLA
Nutrition Education Manager
NOW Foods
Bloomingdale, IL
(800) 999-8069

Missy Lowery
Senior Manager, Marketing
Capsugel
Greenwood, SC
(888) 783-6361

Joar Opheim
CEO & Founder
Nordic Naturals
Watsonville, CA
(800) 662-2544

Holly Prugar
Supplement Manager/Buyer
The Mustard Seed
Watertown, NY
www.mustardseednaturalmarket.com

John Vidergar, Co-founder
Michelle’s Miracle Brands and Cherry Works
Leland, MI
(800) 939-3199

Michele McRae, CN
Senior Director of New Product Development
Rainbow Light Nutritional Systems
Santa Cruz, CA
www.rainbowlight.com

Ken Ross, CEO
Global ID Group
Fairfield, IA
(651) 472-9979

Ken Whitman, President
Natural Vitality
Austin, TX
(800) 446-7462

Michelle White
Co-founder
Michelle’s Miracle Brands and Cherry Works
Leland, MI
(800) 939-3199

GMOs (genetically modified organisms) have been a hot button topic for some time. And with a number of states asking voters if GMO products should be labeled, Vermont became the first state to pass a no-contingency mandatory labeling law in 2014. Here, Vitamin Retailer (VR) asks industry experts how non-GMOs are affecting the natural products industry today and where they see it going in the future.

VR: How long has your company been supplying supplements to the natural products industry?

Kahler: Rainbow Light was founded over 30 years ago in 1981 by a team of nutrition scientists and herbalists with a passion for providing science-based, effective nutritional supplements grounded in the power of nature and real whole foods. We introduced the concept of food-based formulas to help with absorption, bioavailability and as carriers of active compounds, as well as the addition of digestive aids such as enzymes, probiotics and soothing herbs to mitigate stomach upset.

Levin: NOW Foods was founded in 1968 and soon thereafter started providing branded fish oil and vitamin E supplements to consumers. We now supply about 1,000 high-quality dietary supplements to our customers, as well as hundreds of personal care and food products.

Lowery: Capsugel is the world’s leading manufacturer of capsules and has been providing capsules as a dosage form for more than 100 years. We serve both the natural products market place and life sciences.

Opheim: For 20 years Nordic Naturals has been an industry leader in omega-3 fish oil. During this time, our omega-3 fish oils and essential fatty acid blends have regularly been chosen by independent research institutions and universities around the country and internationally. Today, we distribute to more than 35 countries, and offer over 200 products in a variety of flavors and formulations for adults, kids, athletes and pets.

Whitman: Twenty-five years.

Vidergar & White: Fourteen years. VR: When and why did your company begin ensuring your products are non-GMO?

Kahler: Rainbow Light has sourced certified organic, non-GMO spirulina as our primary food base since 2007. We’ve been working with the Non-GMO Project, North America’s only third party verification and labelling for non-GMO food and products, since 2011.

Rainbow Light is a contributing member of the Non-GMO Dietary Supplement Working Group, comprised of dietary supplement manufacturers and suppliers who are joining forces to increase the availability of non-GMO raw materials industry-wide.

When we started on this path, it was an extension of our commitment to provide our loyal customers with the most natural, wholesome and pure dietary supplements available.

Levin: NOW Foods started being concerned about GMO crops and their derivatives when they first were approved in the early 1990s. Because we are committed to natural products, we do not support GMOs in dietary supplements. We advocate for a ban on GMO crops for both human consumption and animal feeding, and actively source non-GMO materials. We started sourcing and offering non-GMO sources of soy- and corn-derived raw materials as soon as GMOs became available in the 1990s, and that process has progressed to documenting the sources of highly processed excipients and processing aids in raw materials over the past few years. Two of our scientists, our Director of QA/QC Aaron Secrist and I, volunteered and served on the Technical Advisory Board of the Non-GMO Project a number of years ago as its original standards were developed. This helped to support both the industry and the availability of properly verified non-GMO products. Our entire food line is non-GMO, and we believe that our dietary supplements are all GMO-free and are working to assure that documentation is in place that some highly processed raw materials used as excipients and processing aids by ingredient producers are also derived from non-GMO sources.

Lowery: As a global company, Capsugel has standard processes in place to meet the most exacting regulations across all countries in which we conduct business. European health and nutrition regulations have been in place for some time requiring non-GMO products, so globally; all Capsugel capsules have been manufactured to that standard. Our self-certification has been based on the industry-standard Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing, which has been considered the most reliable and sensitive testing method to determine genetic DNA alteration. Third-party laboratories perform this PCR testing for our products.

In fall 2013, at the request of customers, Capsugel added third-party validation to our non-GMO claims when we became the first empty-capsule manufacturer to have products verified by the Non-GMO Project. Those capsules were our Vcaps Plus and Plantcaps vegetarian capsules. Since then, three additional vegetarian capsules have been verified—Vcaps, Licaps Vcaps, and Licaps Vcaps Plus capsules—bringing the total to five.

We believe our Non-GMO Project verification can help our customers who use these vegetarian capsules expedite their process for applying for verification for their finished products and ensure consumers that the final supplement product is entirely non-GMO—ingredients as well as delivery form.

Furthermore, the Non-GMO Project verifications add to the clean label attributes for our vegetarian capsule portfolio. The capsules are also free of additives, preservatives, allergens, starch, and gluten, are kosher- and halal-certified, approved by the Vegetarian Society, and are vegan-certified. The clean label movement is substantial and steadily increasing among consumers (66 percent of supplement users want supplements from natural ingredients), in particular among the Millennial generation, ages 15 to 30. This group accounts for a third of the global population, according to the 2013 Natural Marketing Institute SORD (Supplement, Over-the-Counter and Rx Database) study, which Capsugel helped to underwrite, and they lead all generations in desire for non-GMO products (54 percent). Consumers are showing a growing appetite for ingredients and products that are untainted (40 percent of supplement users) and as close as possible to nature. And they desire transparency in ingredient labeling, which is the goal of clean label and non-GMO movements.

Opheim: Nordic Naturals products have always used non-GMO ingredients. We have verified our products as non-GMO in order to reassure customers of our continued commitment to using exclusively non-GMO ingredients.

Whitman: Natural Vitality was one of the early companies campaigning against genetic modification of food through our magazine Organic Connections. When the Non-GMO Project formed, we were very early in getting our flagship product, Natural Calm, certified non-GMO by the Project.

Vidergar & White: Two years ago we began the process, and are supplying the Original Tart Cherry Concentrate to vendors selling our products.

VR: How has non-GMO affected your sales?

Kahler: Although we have been working with the Non-GMO Project for years, we are just beginning our dialog with consumers on this topic. We currently have 23 products enrolled with the Non-GMO Project, including several verified products, and the response has been very positive. In the next quarter, our certified line of products—which have gone through organic certification as well—will display the Non-GMO Project Verified seal on the label and we expect to see those sales, which are already robust, to increase.

Levin: Often we have fewer raw material suppliers that offer non-GMO alternatives, and that makes out-of-stocks more likely and raw material costs higher. Additionally, we have delayed introduction of new products for months, at times, holding out for non-GMO raw materials in place of potentially GMO ones, so have lost out on potential sales in the meantime. But our sales of non-GMO products are increasing and we are strongly committed to offering non-GMO products.

Opheim: We have always found that customers respond positively to our efforts to remain as transparent as possible. Educating customers on ingredient sourcing and product manufacturing in terms of non-GMO is part of this. In addition to providing accurate product information, which we feel is a customer’s right, transparency builds credibility and keeps customers coming back to us. We’re grateful for the loyalty, and believe this is reflected in our continued sales growth.

Whitman: Natural Calm is the top-selling non-GMO certified powdered supplement as well as the top-selling magnesium supplement in any form. While I don’t believe we can attribute our sales to the non-GMO aspect, it does represent a reflection of our product integrity and overall philosophy.

Vidergar & White: It is for certain keeping our product on the shelves—as more consumers become savvier in their quest for non-GMO.

VR: What is the process for transitioning a product to non-GMO?

Levin: We are working on two fronts to assure non-GMO products: certified organic products when available, and verified non-GMO products when organic isn’t practical. Our first priority was to avoid raw materials containing detectable GMOs such as soy protein, and that was completed years ago, including our entire food line. The next priority was to avoid major ingredients that could have been sourced from GMO corn, soybeans, etc., but had been highly processed to the point that GMOs would not be detectable in the material. These ingredients have been largely switched to documented non-GMO sources.

In order to determine a raw material’s potential to be from GMO sources, we have to collect documentation on the ingredients. Our quality control staff designated to investigate the GMO status of ingredients solicits documentation from the vendors. That documentation is then compared to lists of potentially GMO crops and the Non-GMO Project’s standards. Affidavits and certifications are reviewed. PCR testing of raw materials before processing is reviewed, as well. Assuming this documentation is acceptable, we prepare applications and submit them to the Non-GMO Project for verification. Eventually, we receive approval to use its logo on our product and claim it as Non-GMO Project Verified. At that point, the label is updated with that designation.

All of this represents a time-consuming, expensive process unfolding over many months. Many highly processed raw materials can’t obtain verification by the Project under its existing standards but do have substantial documentation evidencing their non-GMO origins. In those cases, we consider making label claims of non-GMO without a third-party verification appearing on the label if appropriate. In addition, many crops are simply not being produced commercially utilizing GMOs and thus are not going to be GMO regardless of documentation levels.

We have information on our website documenting our commitment and progress in documenting our products as non-GMO www.nowfoods.com/quality/our-non-gmo-commitment.htm and an FAQ on GMOs in general www.nowfoods.com/products/faqs/m014595.htm, with additional information available at www.nowfoods.com/news/nowinthemedia/099378.htm.

Lowery: Because we started with non-GMO products, our challenge was to document the traceability of all components used both in the product and in manufacturing. It took us eight months to pull together the traceable documentation in addition to our testing. Together, they provided the necessary proof for our products.

McRae: Our first line of action is to ensure the traceability of our raw materials through rigorous source verification.

• Meticulous ingredient review processes trace every step in the supply chain all the way back to the seeds
• Source-verification supports industry-wide transparency and increases availability of non-GMO verified products and ingredients

Ingredient verification is a deeply complex and time-intensive process that can take years in some cases. We’re diligently working toward the goal of verifying the ingredients in all of our formulas.

Keeping this in mind, we are deeply invested in sourcing non-GMO ingredients whenever possible through consensus-based best practices as defined by the Non-GMO Project, converting formulations to non-GMO verified status, driving awareness and change industry-wide, and providing the highest standard of product quality, efficacy, purity and transparency.

To this end, we always use only identity-tested ingredients from suppliers with published, certified purity processes and we blend our supplements in our NSF-certified, GMP (good manufacturing practice) compliant and QAI-certified organic facility.

Opheim: Because Nordic Naturals products have always used non-GMO ingredients; there has been no real transition to speak of, aside from the formal verification process. Once this process was completed, we added verification information to our labels.

Ross: That depends on the complexity of the product being reviewed. To earn the seal, a product cannot contain more than 0.9 percent of genetically modified material. We begin by taking a look at all of the ingredients within a product, even ones not listed on the label such as enzymes, processing aids, carriers and other inputs. Then we take a look at the entire supply chain for that particular product. If high GMO-risk inputs are used at greater than 5 percent of the dry weight of a formula, a DNA test is required. And even when those inputs are less than 5 percent, DNA testing might also be necessary to comply with the Non-GMO Project Standard if it cannot be demonstrated in another way that the product was produced in a system designed to avoid GMOs.

There are also a variety of ways to make the process more efficient. For example, once an ingredient is demonstrated as being compliant, we do not evaluate it again for another product (as long as the supplier remains constant). Companies with more products to verify leverage economies of scale to shorten the time to verification. And just recently, FoodChain ID announced a 30-day guarantee verification time for low-risk products.

Whitman: This is mainly a sourcing issue, which, with certain items, is more difficult than others.

Vidergar & White: Very detailed and time-consuming, based on the requirements to become certified.

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