10.01.03
International Fiber Corporation: Providing Solutions For An Evolving Marketplace
International Fiber Corporation (IFC), North Tonawanda, NY, was born out of the merger of International Filler Corporation and Fiber Sales and Development Corporation in August 2000. The merger brought together over 75 years of expertise to the ingredient business, which today supplies the nutraceuticals industry with high purity fiber products. With five modern manufacturing facilities located throughout the world, the company is well positioned to provide customized product solutions to meet the demands of a changing marketplace.
IFC’s product portfolio includes several branded products. Among them are Solka-Floc® Powdered Cellulose, Fibrex® Sugar Beet Fiber and JustFiber® Vegetable Fibers, which include bamboo fiber, cottonseed fiber and wheat fiber varieties. Commenting on the functional properties of the company’s fiber products was Joe DeSimone, sales associate. “These leading, bio-acceptable, inert dietary fibers serve as excellent binders for tableting and are accurate, measurable extenders, or carriers, for active ingredients,” he said. “In addition, they provide stable dimensional integrity, allow uniform fill volumes for capsules and upon ingestion, allow immediate moisture absorption for rapid disintegration.”
IFC has been a fixture in the food, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical ingredient business for years with its powdered cellulose and vegetable fibers. Delving deeper into IFC’s long history, Mr. DeSimone said people have trusted the Solka-Floc name for powdered cellulose and other fiber products since the 1920’s. “Approximately 50 years later JustFiber joined Solka-Floc as the names to know in powdered cellulose for food ingredients that are naturally fibrous and 99% pure dietary fiber,” he said. “Then in May 2002 IFC became the exclusive North American distributor to the food and nutraceutical industry for Fibrex sugar beet fiber.”
The motive behind IFC’s move into the nutraceutical industry, according to the company, was the fact that the benefits of their fibers in the food and pharmaceutical industry could easily translate to the nutraceuticals industry as well. “The advantages of using IFC's fibers for tableting applications are multiple,” said Mr. DeSimone. “The fibers provide exceptional stable dimensional integrity and are ideal binders for tableting, all while being completely bio-acceptable and inert.”
Most recently, the company created a high fiber bread mix for people who are conscious about their fiber intake and weight. This bread mix creates a low carbohydrate bread that provides the taste and nutrition of bread without the carbohydrates. Mr. DeSimone said the bread also provides an ideal vehicle for consumers concerned about fiber intake.
Offering his opinion on the state of the industry, Mr. DeSimone said, “The nutracueticals industry has grown quickly over past years and we feel it has become saturated with products and information alike. As a result, there is a wide gap in the information that is available to the consumer and what is known by the experts in the field.”
For the future, Mr. DeSimone promised that IFC would remain on top of the new developments in the nutraceuticals industry. “We are constantly working to find new ways to implement our ingredients into nutraceutical products that will enhance the already multiple benefits that our dietary fibers provide,” he said. “Advancement and growth are our goals and we will keep up to date on any new breakthroughs, applications or information that we discover to help increase the functionalities of our fibers in the nutraceuticals industry.”—T.W.
International Fiber Corporation
50 Bridge Street
North Tonawanda, NY 14120
Telephone: 716-693-4040
Fax: 716-693-3528
E-mail: jdesimone@ifcfiber.com
Website: www.ifcfiber.com