Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/446555
32B January 2015 Tablets & Capsules As of November 3, 2014, manu - facturers of products labeled "organic" are allowed to use silicon dioxide only if "organic rice hulls are not commercially available" [1]. This change, driven in part by consumers seeking "clean-label" products, contributed to a significant bump in sales at Ribus, St. Louis, MO, which makes Nu-Flow, an organic silicon dioxide substitute derived from rice hulls. Ribus began in 1992 supplying functional ingredients to the food industry. Its first product was an emulsifier-hydration aid derived from rice bran. Over time, the company ex - panded its range of products to include a flow agent made from rice hulls, a byproduct that had been discarded as waste until Steve Peirce, Ribus' president, found a use for it. See Figure 1. "I was talking to someone in a plant one day who was looking for a replacement for silicon dioxide as a flow agent. I asked what's in silicon dioxide that makes it work? He said, 'It's the silica, stupid.' Later I remem - bered that about 5 years earlier, our inventor had mentioned that rice hulls contain more silica than any other grain crop. So I called the inventor and said, 'Do you think that if we took rice hulls, ground them up, and processed them, that they'd work as an alternative to silicon diox ide? He said, 'I see no reason why not.' "Rice hulls are composed of fiber and silica. The rice plant takes silica from the soil and concentrates it in the hulls. When the hulls are pro - cessed properly, they can func tion as a one-to-one replacement for silicon dioxide, even though the silica content is much lower." From food to supplements When Ribus launched its silicon dioxide replacement in 2007, it found a niche in the organic foods sector. But with ever-tightening regulation in the aftermath of the Dietary Supplement Health and Edu - cation Act, compounded by growing consumer demand for clean-label products, manufacturers of dietary supplements became interested, too. "Consumers are wary of ingredients that sound like laboratory chemi - cals," Peirce said. "A label declaration like 'rice concentrate' or 'rice hulls' is easier to understand and more appealing than a chemical name. The manufacturers are paying attention, so there's a market. And so far, on most applications that we've seen, our product has worked pretty much as a one-to-one replacement, so it's been a pretty easy changeover for the formulator. We've run it on high- speed, low-speed, many different types of equipment, and it offers a very nice alternative if they're look - ing for a cleaner label." Nu-Flow may not work for all applications, though. "Capsules are fairly straight- forward, but in tablets, not all active ingredients work the same. Nor do all combinations of ingredients work the same, and the type of equipment used can make a difference," Peirce said. Ribus has launched a training and certification program for contract manufacturers to facilitate making the switch. "We offer a formulation-modification sheet to help. We don't need to know your formulation secrets. Just let us know what's going on the label, what kind of equipment you're using, what you're trying to achieve. We work very closely with the CMOs and the brand people—kind of a three-sided triangle—to put the knowledge pieces together. We'll gather enough data to be able to point out where the best and least likely odds of success are. We work with the equip - ment technicians, capsule suppliers, and formulators to come up with the best possible recom mendations. We don't want to waste anybody's time or money. We look for our strike zone, our sweet spot. And in about Ribus offers natural alternative to silicon dioxide Derived from rice hulls, the flow agent helps manufacturers achieve "clean label." Figure 1 Anatomy of a rice grain Hull Bran Starchy endosperm Germ (embryo)