BASF: Focus On Four Pillars In Nutrition
A four pronged approach is the current focus at BASF, Mount Olive, NJ. The company, which is known as “the company that makes your products better,” has long been involved in the nutraceuticals industry with its vitamins and pre-mixes but currently, four product segments are the highlight, according to Jim Kappas, group business manager. “There are four key strengths in the Human Nutrition business: fat soluble vitamins, carotenoids, omega 3 fatty acids and SamE,” he said. “Our primary emphasis this year has been to put more focus on key food applications and work on line extensions for broader use.”
In addition, said Mr. Kappas, “We have seen considerable growth in our premix and blending businesses. We have high quality standards for all aspects of our premixing and blending—in terms of homogeneity, assay consistency and taste masking through our core microencapsulation technologies. Supplement and food companies are looking for a better use of their capital by outsourcing their premix needs to us.”
BASF is involved in both the functional food and dietary supplement arenas. In terms of the former, the beverage category is an area on which the company is focusing, said Mr. Kappas. “Recent market research shows that the fortified beverage market—as well as the functional food market overall—is growing at above average rates. Cereals, snacks and nutritional products are also showing very strong growth. Customers want to put 100% of the RDI of fat soluble vitamins in these products, which can require a more sophisticated suspension system. We think we can help.”
On the supplement side, obviously the hottest ingredient in the industry recently has been SAMe, which was officially introduced by BASF early in 1999. According to Amy Barth, product manager, new products-human health, the market has continued to develop and the company has increased its capacity and put together a very good public relations campaign moving forward.
“Our goal,” said Ms. Barth, “is to promote the BASF brand, which is trademarked ‘Actimet,’ in the SAMe category. There’s a lot of confusion in the segment and we want to educate consumers about our product and to look for the Actimet name, which is the most stable form of SAMe available and is patented.” She continued, “We are manufacturing to pharmaceutical standards in a state-of-the-art facility and we can guarantee that our product will meet the label claim throughout its shelf life. Not every product can say that; in fact, none can.” Ms. Barth added that even though there have been 75 clinical studies performed in the EU, BASF is beginning clinical trials on SAMe in the U.S. this year.
In BASF’s core fat soluble vitamins category, the concentration is on quality and innovation. According to Daniel Wright, business manager-dietary supplements, “We recently improved the quality of our vitamin E acetate oil USP. BASF’s material is over 99% pure and many of our customers are using this to their advantage.We have also been very successful with our high potency vitamin E powder E 750 SF. This product can be used to significantly increase the amount of vitamin E in a tablet without a significant increase in tablet size.” —E.S.
BASF Corporation
3000 Continental Drive-North
Mount Olive, NJ 07828-1234
Telephone: 800-527-9881
Fax: 973-426-5399
E-mail: nutrition@basf.com
Website: www.basf.com/?utm_source=NUT&utm_medium=ContentMarketing&utm_campaign=NUT
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