Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/666166
S 32B April 2016 Tablets & Capsules manufacturing practices The journey to sustainability Karina Basso Associate Editor Sustainability is a much discussed topic in the dietary supple- ment industry, even though the meaning of the term is difficult to pin down. No matter how you define it, consumers are seeking sustainably sourced dietary supplements and the nutraceutical industry is responding. ustainable dietary supplements may give companies an edge in the nutraceutical world. Globally, 35 percent of consumers say sustainably sourced ingredients are impor- tant to their purchasing decisions, according to a January 2015 report by Nielsen [1]. Another study by the company found that 66 percent of consumers worldwide say they will pay more for sus- tainable brands. "Consumers are looking for products that are both good for them and good for society. A product's health and wellness benefits are influential purchase deci- sion drivers for more than half of survey respondents (59%). Products made with fresh, natural, and/or organic ingredients carry similar weight with consumers (57%). Finding opportunities to bridge the two is a powerful and impactful way to connect with consumers" [2]. But what does it mean to be a sustainable company? The word sustainable brings to mind a whole lexicon of buzzwords like green, eco-friendly, environmentally responsible, renewable, biodegradable, earth-conscious, fair trade, and energy efficient. But what all these phrases have in common is the central idea of stewardship, responsibly planning and managing resources. "We've been doing this for 24 years, although we did not know it was 'sustainable' by today's definition," said Steve Peirce, president of Ribus, St. Louis, MO. "That was not our objective, but it just happened to be the niche we carved out for ourselves." His company supplies specialty rice ingredients used in nutraceuticals. Instead of throwing away the bran and hull of rice, Ribus uses these byprod- ucts to create natural lubricating and anti-caking agents that can replace conventional excipients. "Stewardship is clearly a part of what we do because Ribus is using the outer two layers of the rice, allowing for 100 percent of the harvested grain to be used in food, dietary supplements, or other applications. So from a sus- tainability point of view, there was about 30 percent of the rice that was underutilized, and we have been able to find a value-added area to place that 30 percent in the human food chain, whether that is in supplements or in food," Peirce said. Other nutraceutical companies are also pursuing sus- tainable practices. Some have even banded together to form the Coalition for Supplement Sustainability (CSS), a trade association dedicated to maintaining verifiable and transparent sustainability standards. "One of the ways that CSS defines sustainability dif- ferently is that we are interested in the health of our industry and being able to have a sustainable supply chain," said Bethany Davis, director of communications and administration at CSS and director of regulatory affairs at FoodState, Manchester, NH. Four years ago at ExpoWest, her company established the working group that became CSS. The group's 25 members, some of whom are competi- tors, all work in the natural products market. "We feel pri- marily that industry players proactively working together are going to sustain our industry. We want to be good stewards to our specific consumer and we do that by employing sustainable practices. We are not a lobbying group, we are not even a consumer education group, we are a very strategically focused group driven by the con- sumer's wants and expectations." The group is focused on non-GMO standards—a big