Natural Newswire

Final Dietary Supplement cGMP at OMB; AHPA to Offer Training through Teleseminars

Silver Spring, MD October 26. /Natural Newswire/-- In a sign that the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) final rule for current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) for dietary supplements is imminent, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has recorded that it has received the final rule for review. In the normal course of federal rulemaking, this should be the last step before actual publication of the rule, which can now be expected within the next 90 days.

“The dietary supplement industry has been advocating for the completion of this regulatory process for more than a decade,” commented AHPA President Michael McGuffin. “AHPA worked closely with other trade associations to provide meaningful comments to FDA to assist in the development of a final rule that assures high quality products, but does not stray too far into a pharmaceutical model.”

PRESS CALL: Today's Congressional Vote on Organic Standards

NEWS ADVISORY

***PRESS CONFERENCE CALL TOMORROW MORNING***


CONTACT: Craig Culp, (202) 547-9359, (301) 509-0925 (mobile); Joseph Mendelson, (202) 547-9359.

Congress to vote on revising national organic standards

WHAT: Press conference call on Congressional vote to weaken organic standards.

WHEN: October 26, 2005, at 11:00 a.m. (EST).

WHERE: Call (800) 247-5110, enter Pass Code #27373

WHO: Joseph Mendelson, Legal Director, Center for Food Safety, Jay Feldman, Beyond Pesticides, Ronnie Cummins, Co-founder and National Director of Organic Consumers Association, Urvashi Rangan, Senior Scientist and Policy Analyst at Consumers Union, and Jim Riddle, Chair of the National Organic Standards Board.

WHY: To discuss weakening of national organic standards through passage of an amendment to the Agricultural Appropriations Bill being voted on by Congress at 4:00 today. The amendment (sponsored by the Organic Trade Association) would allow:

—Numerous synthetic processing ingredients and aids, including over 500 food contact substances, to be used in organic foods without any type of public review for their safety and compatibility with organic production and processing to be used in organic food without public review.

—Young dairy cows to be treated with antibiotics and fed genetically engineered feed prior to being converted to organic production.

—Loopholes under which non-organic ingredients could be substituted for organic ingredients without any notification of the public based on “emergency decrees.”

BACKGROUND: The Organic Trade Association and food processors are asking Congress to change the Organic Foods Production Act to allow numerous un-reviewed synthetic substances into products labeled “organic” and to weaken organic dairy standards. A recent court decision ruled that the Organic Foods Production Act does not allow synthetic (non-natural) ingredients to be used in foods labeled “organic” and must ensure a strong standard under which dairy cows are converted to organic milk production. After rejecting efforts by members of the public interest and environmental community to reach an agreement on these issues, major food processors in the organic food industry pushed Congress to “quietly” change the law to allow the use of such synthetic ingredients and potentially weaken the organic dairy standards.

New Hope Natural Media and Living Naturally Partner to Showcase New Products at Natural Products Expo East

Boulder, CO Oct 18. /Natural Newswire/ – New Hope Natural Media and Living Naturally jointly announced the results of the third annual New Product Showcase Awards competition held during Natural Products Expo East/Organic Products Expo-BioFach America in Washington, D.C., Sept. 15–18.

Hundreds of new products were entered by more than 170 brands in six categories: Food, Personal Care, Supplements/Herbs, Green/Environmentally Friendly, Best Packaging, and Most Innovative. Retailers cast more than 2,200 votes over the three-day event using Living Naturally’s hand-held scanner system and a unique voting application built exclusively for Natural Products Expo East.

The six award winners were:
• Food: Gluten Free Cheese Pizza by Foods by George
• Personal Care: Nature's First Aid Kit Simple Pure Baby All-Natural Diaper Bag by Seaside Naturals
• Supplements/Herbs: Rescue Remedy Spray by Nelson Bach USA
• Green/Environmentally Friendly: Malagasy Cinnamon Cassia with Cloves Bar Soap by Pangea Organics
• Packaging: Flowering Tea Bamboo Gift Set by Numi Tea
• Innovation: Steaz Ginger Ale by Steaz Green Tea Soda

“Our industry thrives on the success of new products, and getting these new products into the hands of independent retailers is what Natural Products Expos and the New Product Showcase Awards are about, “said Patrick Rea, Director of eMedia for New Hope Natural Media. “New Hope’s goal is to serve up business solutions to the natural products industry, and with a strong focus on new products, we hope to help the industry realize its full growth potential.”

“Building retail intelligence around what products retailers believe will work in their stores can increase the sales of new products at the shelf,” said David Knaggs, CEO and Director of Living Naturally. “Providing technological solutions to the industry is our business. The voting and survey application is just another way for Living Naturally to help retailers and manufacturers find product winners in an increasingly competitive business environment.”

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New Hope Natural Media (www.newhope.com), a division of Penton Media, Inc. (OTCBB: PTON, www.penton.com), is the leading multimedia resource and information provider for the healthy products industry with print, in-person/event, and online products and services. New Hope publishes The Natural Foods Merchandiser, Nutrition Business Journal, Delicious Living and Functional Foods & Nutraceuticals. New Hope also produces trade shows and conferences, including two of the largest natural and organic products trade shows in the world: Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, Calif., USA, March 23-26, 2006 and Natural Products Expo East, Baltimore, MD USA, Oct. 4-7, 2006.

Living Naturally (www.livingnaturally.com) is a leading provider of marketing and technology solutions to the North American natural health industry. Formed in 1999, Living Naturally serves over 1,500 retailers and suppliers and works with a number of strategic partners including United Natural Foods, Danny Wells & Associates, Natural Partners, ASI Business Solutions, Intueri Endeavors, Inc. and New Hope Natural Media.

Contact:
Patrick Rea
303.998.9229
prea@newhope.com

Nutritional Supplements: Can New Science and News Claims Revitalize the Category?

Harleysville, Pa. Oct 18. /Natural Newswire/ -- The Natural Marketing Institute (NMI), the leading provider of strategic consulting, consumer insights and market research services across various health and wellness industries, today expanded on one of the trends it has identified as having a significant impact on the health and wellness marketplace. This trend is seventh in the series of NMI’s Top Ten Trends of 2005.

Trend #7: Nutritional Supplements: Can New Science and New Claims Revitalize the Category?

According to NMI’s 2004 Health & Wellness Trends Database™ (HWTD), the challenges of the nutritional supplement market are being manifested by the growth of condition-specific supplements with a blurring of the lines with traditional over-the-counter medications.

While some product categories, such as vitamins and minerals within the supplement industry, show usage stagnation, condition-specific supplements are showing the highest growth. According to NMI Managing Partner Steve French, “Condition-specific supplements – products designed and marketed based on the prevention or management of particular health issues – have shown a 5-year compound annual growth of 9%. That’s more than double the growth of the supplement industry. This reflects consumers’ desire to self-treat their conditions and to provide adjunct support to prescription drugs.”

AER Amendment Dropped from Senate Defense Bill

Silver Spring, MD, Oct 14. /Natural Newswire/ -- Following discussion on the Senate floor last week, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) won a commitment from the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee to prioritize efforts to pass legislation requiring supplement manufacturers to submit serious adverse event reports (AERs) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Senator Durbin forced the issue, as he did last year, by proposing an amendment to the Senate Department of Defense appropriations bill that would have withheld funding from any store on a military installation that sells dietary supplements containing a stimulant unless the supplement manufacturers submit AERs associated with the supplement.

Senator Durbin withdrew the amendment after receiving assurances from the chairman of the HELP Committee, Senator Michael Enzi (R-WY), that the Committee would address the issue.

Food Allergen Labeling Law Effective January 1 for All Foods and Dietary Supplements

Silver Spring, MD, Oct 13. /Natural Newswire/ -- Any food (including dietary supplements) that contains a major food allergen must include specific warnings when labeled on or after January 1, 2006. This means exactly what it says: labels applied to food or dietary supplements on or after January 1, 2006, must be compliant. Foods or dietary supplements to which the label was applied prior to January 1, 2006, may continue to be shipped.

The American Herbal Products Association intends to hold an educational tele-seminar on the new requirement at the end of November, with a repeat session in early December. Details will be announced when available.

The food allergen labeling requirement was made into law by the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004, which amended the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

Major food allergens must be identified on product labels. These are:

* milk,
* egg,
* fish (e.g., bass, flounder, or cod),
* Crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, or shrimp),
* tree nuts (e.g., almonds, pecans, or walnuts),
* wheat,
* peanuts,
* soybeans.
* An ingredient that contains protein derived from a food listed above.

NCCAM Revises Report of Echinacea Study, Notes Criticism of Low Dose

Silver Spring, MD Oct 12. /Natural Newswire/ -- The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) revised its website yesterday to correct erroneous statements it had made previously about a study on low-dose preparations of Echinacea angustifolia root published in the New England Journal of Medicine on July 28, 2005. The revisions were made only one week after the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) requested such corrections in a letter dated October 4, 2005, to Stephen Straus, MD, NCCAM’s director.

“It is satisfying to think that someone at NCCAM actually listened to our well-reasoned arguments,” commented AHPA President Michael McGuffin. “We have also requested that NCCAM now make some effort to broadcast this corrected message widely, so that the misinformation that was so broadly distributed in July might be clarified.”

A particular grievance voiced in AHPA’s letter to Straus identified as “a gratuitous criticism” NCCAM’s statement about herbal products, specifically, “… what's on the label may not always be what's in the bottle.” That statement has now been removed.

AHPA Asks FDA, NCCAM to Portray Supplements Honestly

Silver Spring, MD, October 7, 2005 /Natural Newswire/ -- In two separate communications dated October 4, 2005, AHPA challenged both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) to tell the truth and to correct past misstatements about dietary supplements and echinacea products, respectively.

“Federal agencies need to demonstrate the same respect for dietary supplements as they do for any other regulated industry,” said AHPA President Michael McGuffin. “AHPA is asking that FDA adopt an overall tone that is respectful of this trade when the final rule on cGMP is published, and that NCCAM correct erroneous statements made in relation to the recent study on low-dose Echinacea angustifolia root preparations.”