Two announcements from Nutrition Business Journal

NBJ Business Achievement Awards

Nutrition Business Journal is now accepting nominations for the 6th annual NBJ Business Achievement Awards. To link directly to the survey, click this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=_2b9pLOGdR8CAVuGMMl11_2b3w_3d_3d Nominations will be accepted online via nutritionbusiness.com through Tuesday, November 27th.

Nominations should describe distinguishing achievements such as revenue growth or profitability gains; turnarounds; new science or product; entry into a new sales channel, market segment or geographic area; noteworthy management initiatives; diversification, acquisition or integration achievements; or initiatives on behalf of consumer education or the industry in general.

Nominations should be written testimonials of no more than 1,000 words. You may nominate your own company and make more than one nomination.

NBJ Raw Materials & Ingredient Supply Industry Survey

Nutrition Business Journal is also undertaking its annual review of the nutrition industry’s raw materials & ingredient supply segment. This one-of-a-kind survey is a benchmark for the performance of this critical industry segment. Please take 5 minutes to fill in this survey if your firm supplies nutritional ingredients or raw materials to the supplements, personal care or food industries. NBJ will share a free copy of the aggregate survey results with you as a thank you for participating. Please click on this link to participate:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=FxriGK4YGgPHBF6ct7JMJQ_3d_3d

I just returned from the annual symposium held by the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) in Scottsdale, Arizona. Speakers included a wide variety of experts from the FDA, Vitamin Relief, The Council of Better Business Bureaus, CRN, the General European Commission, NBTY, The Vitamin Shoppe, Natural Alternatives International, Shaklee and ABC News.

CRN President & CEO, Steve Mister, called for for CRN members to increase self-regulation of misleading advertising and prepare for implementation on adverse event report systems and manufacturing GMPs.

However, the two sessions I found most interesting were from Jeremy Haft of BChinaB and David Katz of ABC News. Mr. Haft, author of All the Tea in China: How to Buy, Sell and Make Money on the Mainland, detailed the challenges of sourcing supply in China from a first had perspective. Mr. Katz mixed science with common sense, to make an argument for a fmore sustainable dietary supplement future.

Executives from all the largest industry players were in attendance. Sponsors included Shaklee, Pharmavite, DSM, Perrigo, Kyowa Hakko, Venable, Nutrilite, Bayer, Covington & Burling, NSF, EuroFins, Miami Research Associates, SafetyCall and Cognis. CRN is virtually on par with the NBJ/Newport Summit when it comes to networking with heavy hitters in the nutrition industry.

Though the daily sessions were dense with information, the evenings were full of fun. “Casino Royale” night and the “CRN Ranch Round Up” encouraged everyone to let their hair down, and it’s hard not to chuckle when you’re trying to talk business with someone in three piece suit, cowboy hat and bandana.

For more information on next year’s event, go to www.crnusa.org

NBJ will host a live online review of the $85 billion nutrition industry and supplement business on Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.

The web seminar will be hosted by Grant Ferrier, Editor-in-Chief of NBJ and Tom Aarts, co-founder of NBJ will contribute.

The webseminar will cover all U.S. nutrition industry product categories and sales channels, with an emphasis on sales, growth and top companies.

In addition, a mid-year 2007 report will be presented on the dietary supplement category.

To register, go to the web seminar homepage.

It seems a week doesn’t pass without a new AP story about China’s food safety problems. The media has really latched onto it. A Google search on “”Chinese Food Safety”" returned over 5.6 million results.

Beijing is currently deflecting blame to foreign media outlets.

Let’s be honest, fear sells better than hope….be it online ads, newspaper subscriptions or 30-second spots inbetween segments on your local & national news. Unfortunately, this is the bottom line.

When it comes to China-sourced ingredients, questioning the safety and efficacy is no new issue to the dietary supplement industry. It’s also becoming a hotter issue with organics, as Safeway’s O Organics line (containing organic products & organic ingredients sourced in China) was called into question at The Organic Summit.

The greater China product safety issue is certainly growing, and will likely renew the focus on Chinese-sourced raw ingredients for dietary supplements. Not that this hasn’t been an “”on-an-off”" issue for the last 10 years for the dietary supplement industry.

Stay tuned for NBJ’s upcoming report on the Chinese nutritional market. Call to pre-order your copy today - 303.998.9399