Small-Scale Supplement Production Facility Opens in N.C.

ASHEVILLE, N.C.Blue Ridge Food Ventures will open a natural products manufacturing facility on Oct. 18, offering small companies to produce dietary supplement products in a cGMP (good manufacturing practice) compliant facility. The 600-square-foot space was designed for the production of natural products, including medicinal herbs and dietary supplements, in capsules, tinctures, extracts and creams.

The production facility includes equipment for grinding herbs, preparing herbal extracts, macerating herbal products, and bottling and sealing bottles and tubes. According to the organization, a program of Advantage West, an agribusiness incubator in North Carolina, the facility is the first shared-use facility of its type, designed to help even early-stage businesses ensure they are in compliance with federal cGMPs for dietary supplements. As of June 2010, all businesseseven one-man operationsmust use an FDA GMP compliant production facility.

The facility will work in partnership with the Natural Products Laboratory at the BioBusiness Center, which will provide training and analytical services to users of the new facility. The lab is located adjacent to Blue Ridge Food Ventures at the AB Tech Enka campus. Other partners include the Small Business and Technology Development Center, part of the University of North Carolina system, and Brevard, N.C.-based Gaia Herbs.