Following my previous post on the changing regulation the nutraceutical has to face every day, today I would like to go deeper in the development of a new product or ingredient.
Nowadays, when we would like to develop a new ingredient, a new blend or a new product, there are two initial paths you have to follow:
- Efficacy: find the best in terms of efficacy
- Regulatory: use ingredients that you may promote from a legal point of view.
This second part is much more difficult than the efficacy one since you have to check in each European country, in order to avoid any problem with a certain country.
Once you find the best options, the wonderful plant, with exactly the active ingredients you are looking for, the right therapeutic effect, with a low dosage and a correct price. After that you realise that this part of the plant you were looking for, for a long time is not allowed, or the quantity you are going to use is too high in a certain country and, therefore, you have to modify the formula or launch two references, with the difference in terms of efficacy this will cause.
European Union, following its name, should unify the rules between the different countries, but a long journey is still needed before we could really talk about a common law all over Europe.
At last Vitafoods Europe, Monteloeder launched ZeroPollution, a unique solution against pollution damages on the skin, with an oral product. One of the requests of documentation we received was to get a certificate that ZeroPollution is not a Novell Food, or is approved as a Novell Food… It was an Italian customer.
This is just a very simple example we are all facing every single day. But why?
To be continued…
Axel Salomon
European Sales Director
