The American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) announced the 2021 recipients of its annual AHPA awards given to individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the continued success of the herbal products industry. The awards were presented virtually at the annual meeting held on March 9.
 
Established in 2006, the annual AHPA Awards acknowledge individuals and organizations that help further AHPA’s goal of promoting the responsible commerce of herbs and herbal products.
 
A new awards category was added this year, AHPA’s vice president of Marketing and Engagement, Amber Bennett, said. “The AHPA Awards have been a big success within the community, and to help highlight the continued growth of our industry we are happy to announced a new award category: The AHPA Diversity and Inclusion Award. The award reflects an excellence of commitment to the values of equality that serve to improve not only our industry, but benefit broader society as well,” Bennett said. Naturade took home the first AHPA Herbal and Inclusion Award.
 
Dr. Rob Wildman received AHPA’s Hero Award; Herbalife Nutrition received the Herbal Industry Leadership Award; Safety Call International received the Herbal Insight Award; Naturade received the Diversity & Inclusion Award; Indena S.p.A. received the Centennial Award; and Tony Hayes received the Herbal Pioneer Award.

The Recipients
 
Wildman has served as AHPA’s Sports Nutrition Committee chair since its inception. “Dr. Wildman has tirelessly, vigorously and passionately served as chair of AHPA's Sports Nutrition Committee since its inception,” AHPA said. “Without fail, he broadens AHPA's reach by acknowledging his committee involvement to those within his professional circle, which is vast. Listening to Dr. Wildman speak is akin to a master class presentation being made. He's a walking, talking wealth of sports nutrition knowledge embodied in human form. This was never more evident than during the production of AHPA's inaugural Sports Nutrition Congress. Dr. Wildman graciously went above and beyond to make sure AHPA was represented excellently. He offered to work on agenda development, used his networking skills to procure the keynote speaker, and was willing to drive wherever he needed to if that's what it took to meet deadlines to get tasks completed. Dr. Wildman believes in the work AHPA does, and what AHPA was founded on; he has proven just how valuable of an asset he is to the community that is AHPA.
 
Since 1980, Herbalife Nutrition has been committed to investing in quality meal replacements, tea, aloe, and supplements for optimum nutrition, AHPA said, stating that the company continues to produce the “most demanding safety and quality standards in the industry. Their quality control systems are constantly monitored to ensure compliance with all government regulations in the 90+ markets where its products are available. What is more, Herbalife is dedicated to improving the lives of communities around the world by providing healthy nutrition and nutrition education to children and communities in need.”
 
SafetyCall is an industry leader in supporting Adverse Event Reporting legislation to help provide a defined process for industry and further demonstrate the safety of herbal and dietary supplements, AHPA said. The company operates a 24/7 adverse event call center, with practitioners who lead in product safety and clinical toxicology recognized nationally for their knowledge and experience. The company has professionally authored over 100 product safety position papers and technical reports, published numerous articles and methodical abstracts in leading specialized journals, contributed to a variety of book chapters, and given hundreds of scientific presentations in leading qualified venues.
 
This year, Naturade launched an initiative to help make healthy and nutritious food available to all people regardless of income or grocery access, beginning with local effort in various neighborhoods of Chicago with limited access to health foods stores, particularly with a focus on lowering blood sugar levels to mitigate type II diabetes risk.
 
Indena was founded in 1921, and has since taken a progressive approach in the science of botanicals, contributing a full century of research and development to the herbs and botanicals industry, helping to improve both the culture surrounding phytochemicals and human health at large, AHPA said.
 
Tony Hayes was a producer and marketer of North American wilcrafted herbs over his 50-year career, which began in 1973 when he was an herb buyer for Lowe Fur and Herb of North Wilkesboro, before he went on to work for Wilcox Drug Company in Boone, North Carolina in 1981. In 2000, he and his wife started their own business, Ridge Runner Trading Company. “He was Appalachian born and bred, a man whose deep western North Caroline accent sung the story of his roots,” AHPA said. “He was a country gentleman, and a digger – someone as comfortable with going into his woods with a burlap bag and a shovel as he was selling locally harvested herbs to the largest companies in the country and meeting with federal regulators to represent his segment of the herb trade. Tony was a virtual warehouse of knowledge for herbal data, keeping records on things like the quantities and quality of herbs produced in any given year, and he shared that knowledge freely with all of us, making it available just for the asking. He was the person about whom people would say, ‘Call Tony, he’ll know.’ We will all miss him.”