So says 30-year industry veteran Todd Norton who has recently taken up a post as chief operating officer at supplier AM Todd after spending 14 years at Sabinsa where he left as president and COO.
The GSK broadside
The science message is not new, to Norton, or the industry, but in the wake of the GlaxoSmithKline weight loss claims petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it has risen to the forefront once again.
"There are a lot of messages out there and there is a battle for hearts and minds going on in the botanicals sector right now," Norton told NutraIngredients-USA.com. "GlaxoSmithKline has launched this well orchestrated campaign that very methodically challenges the credentials of our industry. Now we have to respond."
The petition may have been well put together but Norton disagreed with its central argument that not a single dietary supplement was scientifically proven to assist weight management.
"A great deal of credible scientific work has been done in relation to a great number of dietary supplements and ingredients so to make a blanket statement that weight loss supplements don't work as GSK has done doesn't really reflect the situation," he said.
"But we need to do more and so I am pleased Byron Johnson has been appointed chair of the International Alliance of Dietary/Food Supplement Associations (IADSA) because he will aggressively advocate the importance of science."
He said the petition's success or failure will hang on the notion of how much science is sufficient, a gold standard that is rarely agreed upon, even within the scientific community.
Norton highlighted ingredients like Cognis' Tonalin and Sabinsa's Forslean as two examples of offerings possessing thorough scientific backing.
Such ingredients could withstand even pharma-level scrutiny if the petition succeeded and all weight loss products were required to attain pre-market approval as is the case for drugs, he suggetsed.
"Some products walk the talk but there needs to be more," he said.
New horizons
One of the driving motivations for AM Todd to employ Norton was his international experience as Sabinsa has a long history of doing business in Asia, particularly in India.
AM Todd is one of the oldest ingredient companies in the US having begun operations as a flavorist and a botanicals supplier in 1859, and has been present in India for more than 30 years as well as numerous overseas locations. It has 25 staff at its Indian operation.
The Michigan-based company is developing a strong presence in China.
"There are lot of similarities between doing business in India and China," Norton said. "Culturally there are a lot of challenges there. It is more complex than it used to be as standards have increased and more scrutiny been given to the sector."
He said forming strong relationships with suppliers on the ground was key to succeeding in such economies that have tended to compete on price whereas Good Manufacturing Practises (GMPs) were more important than ever.
"The finished product companies you sell your ingredients to are going to have a lot more peace of mind if you can show them paperwork that guarantees the quality of the ingredients," he said. "That's a peace of mind that takes a lot of experience to achieve though."
He added: "The whole industry is in transition. Industry must start looking at the way they are doing business. They need to make sure they know who they are doing business with, who they are aligning themselves with."
