Are All Supplement Premixes the Same?

by Emilio Gutierrez

Successfully developing a point of differentiation is a common marketing strategy used to generate consumer interest and drive revenue. In today's competitive business environment, traditional food and beverage companies are experimenting with dietary supplement ingredients as a way of creating a new product image. The move is easily justified considering the emerging national campaign against obesity, the public pressure for companies to produce responsible and healthy products, and the potential financial payback of a nationally accepted brand. As these companies venture into new areas and ingredients outside their core competencies, they will undoubtedly solicit the help of external experts. This is where outsourcing comes in and particularly in the design of a customized premix. The premix allows a company to source a series of ingredients as just one SKU from an expert who guarantees they are blended in the right proportion and will perform as intended.

Why Consider a Premix?

The first of many benefits of sourcing a pre-blended premix from an ingredient supplier is financially driven. In the right arrangement, the supplier can carry most, if not all, of the costs associated with development. Your procurement group is not tasked with sourcing a multitude of hard-to-find items or facing the chance of bringing in the incorrect grade of a new foreign ingredient. The R&D staff isnt faced with projects outside its realm of expertise. Another benefit is reduced costs in shipping, warehousing, handling and quality-control testing, since the premix can be ordered just-in-time and in the exact quantity required, and testing is conducted on the consolidated blend. Further, as the supplier carries and manages the ingredient inventory, they retain the multitude of partially unused containers of individual ingredients used in the premix. Finally, from the dollar side, the cost of the premix remains fixed regardless of the fluctuating lot-to-lot efficiencies of production batch yields.

Where To Go?

In order to successfully benefit from these advantages, it is important to partner with the right supplier. First, consider if the supplier's regard for quality is in line with that of your company. Are they up to date in cGMPs (current good manufacturing practices)? Are they open to audits and willing to provide full disclosure? Would you feel comfortable putting your company's name on a product that was manufactured by this supplier?

Next, determine whether the supplier truly understands the physical attributes of the ingredients in the premix. Do they have the right technical expertise to develop, manufacture and test the product? Are they outsourcing any part of the product they provide to you? Do they have access to ample quantities of each of the ingredients to avoid an availability issue should your product take-off? Do they posses the right equipment and capacity to manufacture your product? Lastly, are they quoting a price for their services that makes sense to you?

Designing for Performance

In order to be successful, a formulator has to take the time to truly understand how its customer wants to use the product they are asking to source then, work backward. Traditionally, flow and density are an issue with two-piece capsules, and compressibility comes in when discussing tablets. But things can be quite different on the food side. Suddenly, there are issues with solubility, mouth-feel, taste, odor and stability while mixed with ingredients not traditionally used in dietary supplements. This can prove to be quite a challenging task. Most difficult to the formulator are the subjective areas such as taste and odor. Rarely does a sensory panel overwhelmingly approve the first submission of a product. More often than not, a product is sent back to be reformulated numerous times until the most sensitive of palates is satisfied.

Two additional issues must be addressed. First is development time. Rarely is a supplier able to offer a new customer an off-the-shelf pre-fabricated premix. Individual ingredients and percentages always vary, making nearly all requests unique and customized. This means ample time should be allotted for development, scale-up and the collection of stability data.

Next, consider label-claim verification. It is extremely difficult or impossible to verify the presence of each ingredient in the premix by analytical testing. It is even more difficult to verify these in the final product. Expect to work closely with the supplier to develop a plan that satisfies regulatory requirements. Companies often work around this dilemma by gathering supporting documentation that verifies the presence and quality of each ingredient in the premix.

Ultimately, a premix composed of dietary supplement ingredients may be the right vehicle to bring a new zest to a food or beverage product at the mature stages of its life cycle or it could also be the focal point of an entirely new product targeting an entirely different market. The possibilities are endless. To make life easier, develop a mutually beneficial relationship with a trusted ingredient supplier and solicit its help and input in product design and development. In the end, this can save money by avoiding unforeseen pitfalls and setbacks, bringing the product to market faster and ultimately benefiting the bottom line.

Emilio Gutierrez, R.Ph., MBA, has 20 years experience in the pharmaceutical and nutritional industries. He currently works for BI Nutraceuticals as vice president of technical services where he specializes in the design and production of bulk powder and solid dosages. Gutierrez holds two patents in powder processing, and frequently writes and lectures on processing techniques for dietary supplements.