SupplySide East Draws Thousands of Industry Execs

SECAUCUS, N.J.More than 3,000 dietary supplement, food, beverage and cosmeceutical professionals met May 2 to 4 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus, N.J., for SupplySide East 2011. The sold-out exhibit hall featured 237 companies occupying 300 booths.

Executives from Bausch & Lomb, Bayer Consumer Health, Campbell Soup Co., Carlson Laboratories, Colgate Palmolive, Country Life, Estée Lauder, Garden State Nutritionals, Hershey Co., J.M. Smucker Co., Lang Naturals, L'OREAL, Mission Foods Corp., Revlon, Solgar Vitamin & Herb and many more leading companies attended.

"I'm [at SupplySide East] looking for health and nutrition ingredient trends that we can incorporate into our baking products. We're looking for ingredients several years ahead of uswe try to incorporate ingredients and technologies that we can look into right now so when the consumer is ready, we can transform specialty, supplement-like ingredients into mainstream products." Weizhu Yu, Vice President of R&D, Bimbo Bakeries USA

The exhibit hall, open May 3 and 4, featured hundreds of ingredient suppliers and manufacturing service providers. Attendees met more than 40 new companies that didn't exhibit at the previous event. Exhibitors offered thousands of ingredients including vitamins, sweeteners, branded ingredients, flavors, fragrances, probiotics, minerals, botanicals and many more innovative products.

"SupplySide is a good forum to meet all my current vendors and new vendors, and research new ideas and product concepts with my marketing group. I'm always looking for something new and different. ... A lot of times you'll talk with current suppliers who you've talked to for years and they'll have something new [SupplySide] makes it easy to have that dialogue." Ray Bartolucci, M.S., R.Ph., Senior Director, Technical Services, Consumer Healthcare, Pfizer Global Manufacturing

NSF-DBA presented the official SupplySide GMP training courses again, with attendance growing 30 percent this year. The "100 Level Course: 21 CFR 111 - Dietary Supplement GMP Overview" and "200 Level Course: GMP Vendor Qualification & Auditor Training" were held on May 2 and 3.

Ingredient science, regulatory issues and market trends were examined in the three-day education program featuring 30 sessions; the two nutrition tracks were sponsored by EPAX AS. Speakers from Herbalife International, the American Botanical Council (ABC), The University of Guelph, NAFFS, International Food Network (IFN), UCLA, Datamonitor and many other leading organizations presented. FDA's Division of Dietary Supplement Programs manager, Bradford W. Williams, drew nearly 200 people for the featured speaker presentation on May 4.

More than 80 professionals attended the workshop "Health Practitioners and Supplements: Channel Data, Strategies and Opportunities for Growth," sponsored by EpiCor®, on May 3. The event was produced in collaboration with Holistic Primary Care and developed by VIRGO's soon-to-be launched Integrative Healthcare Insider, www.integrativehealthcareinsider.com.

Business conversations and connections continued during daily networking events. After the education sessions ended on May 2, attendees met in the Meadowlands Exposition Center's lobby for Happy Hour, sponsored by Anmar International. The Opening Reception, sponsored by Natural Health Science Inc., was held in the atrium at the Embassy Suites and the Appreciation Reception, co-sponsored by Premium Ingredients International and Suzhou Vitajoy Bio-Tech Co Ltd., offered beverages and snacks on the show floor May 4.

SupplySide East attendees also previewed SupplySide Community, the recently-launched community-based website where thought leaders discuss, debate and define the issues affecting their businesses. SupplySide Community enables the SupplySide audience a continuous environment to connect all year long and provides a venue for like-minded professionals to interact around hot, industry topics moderated by expert community managers.

More than 35 leading companies sponsored the event, including major sponsors AGG - Anderson Global Group LLC, Embria Health Science, EPAX AS, Lesaffre Human Care, Natural Health Science Inc., Pharmachem Laboratories and Proprietary Nutritionals.

"I've gone to about six or seven SupplySides but this is the busiest SupplySide East I've seen. I'm looking at new possibilities and new products, discussing what is going on in the industry and seeing the growth. Good show! [Moving to New York City in 2012], is an opportunity for more vendors, more growth and I can meet more people. And, the more I can meet, the more I can interact with and find out what's going on, the better Carlson does. It's a win-win." Lindy Eck, Purchasing Manager, J.R. Carlson Laboratories

"We are ecstatic with the turnout this year at SupplySide East; the exhibit hall was simply packed. The momentum from this great event will help fuel the excitement and success for our move to New York City next year and our expansion of SupplySide East into SupplySide MarketPlace." Peggy Jackson, Executive Vice President, Health & Nutrition Network, VIRGO

SupplySide East is moving to Javits Center in New York City, May 8 to 10, 2012, and VIRGO is re-branding the event as SupplySide MarketPlace, reflecting a new, expanded vision for the event. SupplySide MarketPlace will include expanded educational and training programs, partnerships with leading associations and institutions, and an array of co-located events and programs.