RFI Ingredients: Evolving Into a Full-Service Supplier

When Nutraceuticals World caught up with RFI Ingredients in 2002, the company was in the midst of refocusing its business to concentrate less on mainstream food and more on nutraceuticals. Since then, the company has become a leading provider of unique raw material ingredients and extracts for use in dietary supplements and functional foods.

To keep up with the changing demands of the industry, the company recently completed a new manufacturing facility at its Blauvelt, NY, headquarters. “Since the facility is located within our corporate headquarters, which also houses our in-house laboratory and warehouse, we now have further control of bulk and final product blending, testing and packaging, which are all important pieces of the GMP puzzle,” said Jeff Wuagneux, CEO. “Having control of bulk and final product blending, testing and packaging will also offset the rise of raw material costs. Unnecessary transportation costs have also been eliminated.”

Earlier this year RFI also acquired a liquid extraction facility in Colorado, which manufacturers unique, high quality flavor and botanical extracts and concentrates. “The extraction facility, called RFI Extracts, uses a proprietary extraction technology called dynamic liquid/solid extraction (DL/SE), originally developed by Hauser Chemical Research to produce highly concentrated flavors, antioxidants and botanical extracts,” Mr. Wuagneux said.

Research is also a high priority for the company. In fact, it recently completed the first round of ex vivo studies on its OxyPhyte antioxidant line, confirming cellular uptake. “Our OxyPhyte products now have proven cellular uptake and activity using the CAP-e (Cell-based Antioxidant Protection in Erythrocytes) assay,” Mr. Wuagneux said. It has also initiated a human clinical trial investigating Chocamine’s effect on cognitive function. Chocamine is RFI’s patented cocoa extract that is standardized for several important constituents related to energy, mood, cognitive function and cravings.

Looking back, Mr. Wuagneux discussed how RFI arrived at this point in terms of antioxidant science. “Ten years ago, before ORAC became synonymous with antioxidant activity, RFI was the first company to standardize and guarantee ORAC levels in our OxyPhyte products,” he said. “As the science and technology behind antioxidant testing grows, RFI’s mission has been to go ‘beyond ORAC’ and put together the full antioxidant puzzle for our OxyPhyte products.”

In an effort to help its customers capitalize on the rapidly growing interest in organics, RFI continues to expand its Sourcestainable line of organic ingredients, which are produced in its newly certified organic facility. Some of the most recent additions include fruit and vegetable powders, extracts, cereal grasses, spirulina and chlorella.

The company also does a fair amount of business with China. While this might be considered a risky proposition for some companies, RFI stands behind its relationships in China, which go back more than a decade. “Although the news is full of adulteration stories from China, from dog food to milk, RFI has not been impacted by this. The reason is that in the early days of this industry when adulteration of botanical products was more common, we did catch a few suppliers trying to pass off adulterated extracts. We realized a long time ago that quality control of our Chinese suppliers was extremely important,” Mr. Wuagneux said. “We put into place initiatives back then that are now key components of our Q3 Program, which means quality has been qualified and quantified. To assure strong partnerships with our Chinese suppliers and get more involved, we opened a Bejiing office in 1998.

Since then, we’ve prided ourselves on developing vertical supply networks—we call this strategy ‘From Field to Formula.’” RFI’s “From Field to Formula” slogan speaks to its involvement in every aspect of product development, from cultivating the raw material to processing, packaging and logistics.

For the future, Mr. Wuagneux sees continued growth, though maybe not in the double-digits the market experienced during the past 10 years. Regarding RFI specifically, he said, “Our role has certainly evolved by adding the manufacturing piece to the picture. We no longer just supply ingredients, but we also manufacture turnkey products. We’ve also added research and development, product development, marketing and regulatory expertise to our portfolio.”—R.W.

RFI Ingredients
300 Corporate Drive
Blauvelt NY 10913
Telephone: 845-358-8600
Fax: 845-358-9003
E-mail: rfi@rfiingredients.com
Website: www.rfiingredients.com