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In addition to its shrink-sleeved canister format launched in early 2007 and sold at Costco, San Francisco, CA-based Bevology also developed a tube format for its effervescent Zenergize supplements. Introduced in September 2007 and sold in cartons, the products retail in seven varieties at Whole Foods, Walgreens, and Vitamin Shoppe stores nationally and in Los Angeles-area Longs and Ralphs stores. Each is priced at $6.99 for one variety of 10 all-natural servings.
Health Resources LLC of Hueytown, AL, was established in 1995 as a manufacturer of natural health supplements available by mail order. Today, the company offers more than 400 different SKUs, with products that promote a range of health solutions, including joint relief, heart health, reduced inflammation, and better digestion, among many others. In March, the company began running six AirPouch™ Express 3 air-pouch void-fill systems from Automated Packaging Systems to protect its bottles of product during shipment. The switch to air-pouch void-fill systems from loose-fill peanuts increases productivity, lessens mess, and reduces costs.
If you are a packager of dietary supplements, you may have a strong reaction to the new Food and Drug Administration regulations setting current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) requirements for these products. These regulations were announced by the FDA in late June and can be found in 21 CFR Part 111.1 – 111.610. As a maker of these products, you might welcome the level playing field among supplement companies that these new manufacturing controls can bring, as well as the higher consumer confidence in products of this type that may follow from more consistent quality. Or, you may resent the rules’ irritating new burdens in procedures and record keeping.
The Food & Drug Administration’s new current good manufacturing practices (CGMPs) for dietary supplements are rich in requirements related to packaging and labeling. A decade in the making, the CGMP rule, compliance with which will be phased in according to size of company, sets minimum standards for assembly-line contact surfaces, packaging and labeling equipment, inspection of packaging received from suppliers, relations with third-party packagers, personnel hygiene on the packaging line and much more, all within the context of forcing the industry—some of which may already be in compliance—to adopt the kind of CGMPs that the FDA has prescribed for food and drugs.
Much like drivers appreciate the performance, handling, and flexibility of the finest sports cars,
Italian contract manufacturer/packager Fine Foods N.T.M. (New Technology Manufacturing) S.p.A opts for similar characteristics in the packaging machinery it specifies. As manufacturers speed their products to market, it increases the deadline pressures on companies such as Fine Foods. In turn, Fine Foods relies on packaging machinery for the flexibility and output it needs to meet the demands of its manufacturer-customers.
In mid-March 2007, Caldwell, NJ-based marketing and distribution company The Stratis Group joined forces with Brooklyn, NY contract manufacturer Victoria Packing Corp. to launch a health supplement called “Hilo Gold Noni Juice” in health food outlets in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.
When Sageant, LLC, Bozeman, MT, a health supplement and vitamin producer, wanted to re-brand and refresh its product image, the company sought the assistance of branding and design agency Maddocks & Co. In the process of designing new labels and recommending PVC shrink-sleeve label materials for the various liquid and solid Sageant products in assorted container sizes and shapes, Maddocks also enlisted the digital printing expertise of CL&D Digital to execute the shrink-sleeve label printing. The 2-mil PVC shrink-sleeve label material, manufactured by Klockner Pentaplast , is digitally printed by CL&D using a four-color process.
Aluminum can lends shelf appeal for New Sun Nutrition's reformulated Free Radical Scavenging (FRS) beverages. In February, New Sun Nutrition's CEO Richard Lamb announced, "Since the launch of FRS in 2004, we have continued to fine-tune the product and are proud to introduce a great-tasting, improved formula in addition to an eye-catching new recyclable can for the ready-to-drink format." The aluminum can with pull tab from Rexam (www.rexam.com) offers a one-year shelf life for the beverage that requires no refrigeration. New Sun Nutrition says the shelf life exceeds that of the plastic bottle that this can replaced.
A PET bottle and shrink-sleeve label help start-up company DTK launch a relief drink for “the day after” called AH+. AH+ (After Hours+) is an appropriate name for a vitamin-fortified water designed to help relieve hangover symptoms associated with drinking too much alcohol. Introduced last July, the three 16.9-oz AH+ varieties are filled into 23-g injection-blown PET bottles provided by O.Berk.
Drug delivery devices, advances in combination products, and biologics/biopharmaceuticals will present both challenges and opportunities for packagers. New packages and drug delivery methods for over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, nutraceutical and cosmeceutical products are appearing on retail drug and grocery store shelves. (Part II of II)
The packagers of over-the-counter drugs (OTC) and dietary supplements will soon need to label their products with contact information to allow consumers to report possible injuries or illnesses. The packagers, in turn, will have to report serious adverse events to the Food and Drug Administration, and keep records of the events. The law goes into effect one year from President Bush's recent signature.
SkinMedica works with structural branding firm to transform its stock packaging look to create structure and design across its product line. “We are a cutting-edge company that has cutting-edge ingredients,” says Josie Norine, product manager, cosmeceuticals, for Carlsbad, CA-based SkinMedica, Inc., maker of pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical dermatology products. “So we want to be the first in the marketplace to make a strategic change as far as packaging, and be a pioneer, but [our packaging was] pretty dated in the marketplace,” for the products, which had been on the market five years.
* made of HDPE, 75-cc bottle has a 33/400 finish
* works well with a child-resistant closure for pharmaceutical, vitamin, and nutritional products
* indented panel allows for distinct labeling and a better grip to open bottle
This summer, Highland Laboratories, Mt. Angel, OR, began to replace its more than 200 opaque and amber PET bottles used for dietary supplements with similar containers made of polylactic acid from NatureWorks LLC. PLA is a bioplastic derived from corn.
