The Methods Development group from NOW Foods of Bloomingdale, IL, made two poster presentations at the 129th AOAC International Annual Meeting. The first was about “Rapid Screening of Illicit Steroids in Dietary Supplements by uHPLC-TOF Mass Spectrometry,” while the second involved “Streamlined Multi residue Pesticide Analysis of Dried Botanical Dietary Ingredients using GC-Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer and Chromeleon 7.2 Software.” 

NSF International of Ann Arbor, MI, launched the NSF Non-GMO True North program for retailers, manufacturers, suppliers and producers. Says the group, “The new nongMO certification, available through NSF International’s Consumer Values Verified Program, is offered in addition to Non-GMO Project verification.”

Sami Labs, the manufacturing arm of Sabinsa Corporation of East Windsor, NJ, is the recipient of two 2014–2015 Pharmexcil Awards in the herbals category: the Silver Award for Patents and the Outstanding Export Performance Award.

NattoPharma, with global headquarters in Oslo, Norway, received a prestigious †2.9-million grant from the European Commission’s research program Horizon 2020-MSCA-ITN. “The successful grant assignment and the opportunity to allocate highly qualified researchers to further work on vitamin K research is a great recognition of the MenaQ7 platform by this collaboration so far,” said Leon Schurgers, an associate professor at CArIM, Maastricht university, the main contact between NattoPharma, the university and Horizon 2020. “I have great expectations for potential new and exciting observations that will arise from our mutual efforts – identifying even more positive health benefits of MenaQ7.”

Frost & Sullivan will give the 2015 North American Frost & Sullivan Company of the year Award to Nutraceutix of Mountain View, CA. The company was recognized for “maturing the probiotic marketplace for delivering outstanding products” and offering “patented processes and technologies to help brands formulate and deliver the industry’s finest premium probiotics in a variety of formulae and dietary supplement formats.”

Orlando, FL-based Valensa International received several patents for the composition and application of formulations featuring perilla seed oil as a major component. States the company, “The most important of these new patents is one that covers the use of perilla seed oil alone or in combination with other omega-3 sources such as krill oil, algae oils, fish oils and other seed oils for cardiovascular health support.”

Alkemist Labs of Costa Mesa, CA will now offer the America Herbal Pharmacopoeia-Verified Botanical reference Materials on the Alkemist e-commerce website, in addition to the existing reference standards offerings at www.alkemist.com/products.

Published in WholeFoods Magazine, November 2015