Because the standard American diet (aptly dubbed “SAD”) is sorely lacking in dark green leafy foods, green food supplements—those derived from young cereal grasses such as wheat, barley, rye, oats and alfalfa, as well as spirulina, chlorella, kelp, dulse and other sea vegetables—have been an integral part of allowing consumers to attain valuable nutrients such as vitamin B12, chlorophyll, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium, to name a few. Even those few who actually work to make green foods part of their diets aren’t getting the full benefit due to soil nutrient depletion, which has caused fiber-rich vegetables to be lacking, so supplementation appears to be a viable alternative.

Of note, after the tragic events that occurred in Japan, green food supplements, or irradiation remedy formulations that deliver iodine/potassium iodide, were actively sought out, creating an influx in sales of these products. Marina Linsley, marketing director with NP Nutra (Rancho Dominguez, CA), reported that sales of organic Cracked Cell Chlorella Powder have increased significantly to the point where the company had a difficult time keeping it in stock. “Sales of organic Cracked Cell Chlorella Powder have been steadily rising for the past three to four months with a sudden spike over the past few weeks. We have had to increase production to keep up with demand,” she said. “The fibrous outer shell of chlorella can bind to heavy metals within the body, allowing them To be flushed out of the system. Chlorella may also assist the body in breaking down persistent toxins.”

But as consumer acceptance and demand for these products have grown, a common complaint is that the market quickly flooded with inferior products, which can often be traced back to the choice of raw materials. Most green foods are classified as whole foods, where the active components are beneficial as a whole versus extracted key active components, so the processes that go into making these green food ingredients is imperative in creating a viable, nutrient- dense products that will deliver what consumers are lacking.

Market and Organic Growth

Green food ingredients claimed a sizeable share of the approximately $5 billion U.S. herbal dietary supplement sales in 2009, according to Linsley. “Wheat and barley grass powder generally had the largest market share, with SPINS data for 2009 reporting sales of $13,243,966. Also in the list of 20 top-selling botanical dietary supplements for 2009 was chlorella, with sales of $3,960,091,” she said, noting that these figures are for single ingredient supplements only and don’t include formulas, a sizeable part of the green foods market.

Beyond simple ingredient growth, there is an increasing demand for organic ingredients that can be utilized in organic formulations.

“Organics have been steadily gaining ground since the 1990s, but 2006 saw a breakthrough with sales of organic products growing by 21 percent, Possibly spurred on by widely reported food quality scandals and growing concerns about health and environment,” said Linsley. “Baby Boomers appear to be one of the leading demographics in the organic food and supplement markets, particularly in Europe, which is estimated to be the largest organic market in the world. Green foods are often marketed and used as cleansing supplements, helping customers detoxify their bodies of heavy metals and other pollutants. Customers are looking for the purest supplements and are unwilling to use a product with pesticide residues.”

Gerry Wong, general sales manager of Organic By Nature, Inc. (Long Beach, CA), a raw materials supplier and contract manufacturer of cereal grasses, algae and specialty ingredients, concurred, but added that he’s seen the demand skyrocket in recent years.

“I am seeing a massive amount of organic certified green foods formulation requests in the past two to three years; an increase of almost 500 percent since 2008. There are many very well established green food products/formulations converted to organic certified versions,” he said. In reply to the surge of demand of organic greens, Organic By Nature has been securing more contracts with producers of organic certified ingredients as well as increasing its re-ordering points to have larger quantities of raw ingredients in its warehouse. “By purchasing and producing larger quantities, we are able to offer these organic products at comparable or lower price than their conventional counterparts.”

In line with the demand for organic green food ingredients, Wong has also seen an increase in the need for “organic certified naturally”

Flavored formulations. “While, applying flavoring components has not been an entirely new concept in the food supplement industry, it is new in the green food sector and even newer in the organic sector. This is because, until recently, there have been very few organic certified/compliant flavorings available,” he said. “At this time, the purest and best organic certified flavoring components come from Europe. We have been able to work closely with one of the biggest European food flavoring companies and able to stock up on organic certified flavorings.

“We have been regularly converting conventional green foods into organic certified versions and from it, an organic certified flavored version,” Wong added. “It is also interesting to note that most flavored products outsell their non-flavored counterparts two to one.”

Inferior Influx 

While Organic By Nature, Inc. has been a proponent of organic green foods long before the recent trends, Wong noticed it to be a “must have” around 2005, at a time when the Green foods industry was seen as a proven multi-billion dollar global industry that many companies were eager to be a part of.

“Unfortunately, this creates manufacturers of green foods that focus on profit maximization while sacrificing overall quality,” he said. “Organic certification guarantees a verified high level of quality and purity in the products and its processes. What I have observed during my years in this industry is that if a product is not organic certified, it basically means anything goes.”

Pines International (Lawrence, KS) has been a pioneer of the green foods movement for 35 years, and Ron Seibold, president and co-founder, said he has seen how less-scrupulous companies have borrowed on the reputation his company helped Cultivate for the category.

“Pines Wheat Grass was the first exclusively wheatgrass product sold in natural foods stores. When various algae products joined the market, we were the company that coined the term ‘green foods.’ Now, the ‘green foods sections’ in most stores have dozens of different brands. Some are excellent, but with the success of Pines and other green food pioneers, the copy cat Products are often of inferior quality,” said Seibold, adding that it is particularly true in the case of wheatgrass and other cereal grasses. “For cereal grasses, the plant has to be harvested once a year during a two or three day window in April in order to have the high nutritional content discovered in the research. If a company waits a week after that ‘jointing stage,’ they will increase their production by 300 percent, but the Nutritional quality drops to practically nothing.

“Instead of getting more nutrients per dosage, shortcuts in growing, harvesting, processing and packaging have lowered nutrient levels. Unsuspecting suppliers tend to want to believe that all cereal grass is the same and are fooled into purchasing at a lower cost and getting a very poor value in the long run,” he added. “We are the only company that grows and harvest our product in the manner that was used in the foundation- Al research. This attention to quality makes our costs more than those who care only about profits, but we have a loyal following who can see and feel the difference, and who are willing to pay a little more to get considerably more nutrition. The only way to increase nutrient levels is through better farming, harvesting and packaging practices.”

Attention to the Process

NP Nutra’s Linsley agreed with Seibold in that manufacturers seeking to source quality green food ingredients need to be aware of their partners’ attention to detail.

“First and foremost, the ingredient should be certified organic and non-GMO. Secondly, green grass ingredients need to be carefully harvested at the stage when their nutrients are at their peak. Thirdly, excessive heat can degrade an ingredient, so it is important that the temperature is carefully controlled during processing,” she said. “Lastly, and we believe this is the most important, especially for green grass ingredients such as wheatgrass, that they are grown outdoors in sunshine to harness the energy of the sun in the production of chlorophyll.”

With the growing demand for organic and non-GMO ingredients, Linsley explained that NP Nutra works closely with its farmers to create a supply chain with full stability in quality, price and availability. “We want to make sure we are producing the purest, most potent and freshest ingredients we possibly can. For this reason, we contract processing plants as close as possible to the growing areas so ingredients can be taken fresh from harvest and processed as quickly as possible. We identity test our ingredients before processing and have strong quality control procedures throughout,” she said.

While Organic Spirulina Powder has been NP Nutra’s most successful green food ingredient up to recent times, its newer ingredients are grass powders, Including Organic Wheatgrass Juice Powder, Organic Barley Grass Juice Powder and Organic Alfalfa Powder.

“We’re looking forward to organic alfalfa creating a lot of interest in the natural foods industry as it becomes more widely known,” said Linsley. “Alfalfa is one of the most mineral-rich foods on the planet. Its roots can grow as deep as 50 feet, helping the plant to draw important nutrients from deep in the earth. In addition to all known vitamins,Alfalfa contains chlorophyll, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. Importantly, the minerals are present in a balanced form, which allows for maximum absorption.”

Efrat Kat, director of marketing and sales with Algatechnologies Ltd. (Kibbutz Ketura, Israel), a supplier of AstaPure™ brand premium quality natural astaxanthin, pointed out that his Company alone uses an advanced, patented, closed cultivation system that is totally exposed to natural sunlight.

Algatech’s proprietary and patented cultivation process employs a closed tubular system for cultivating enriched cells that provide a high concentration (three to four percent) of astaxanthin from the algal biomass,” he explained.

“The two-stage (green and red) process, including optimized growth Conditions and strain selection, produces a fine, free-flowing red flake. By improving control of various parameters, Algatech’s closed-system production techniques eliminate significant disadvantages of current open pond algae systems, such as heavy metals and microbiological contaminations.”

In addition, Algatechnologies extracts all of its products using Super Critical CO2 technology. “The CO2 extracted oleoresin has approximately 10 percent astaxanthin content and is used in the production of soft gels suitable for human consumption. This standardized astaxanthin product that is free from algal cellular debris, has a long shelf life and offers consumers a wider choice in their selection of astaxanthin containing products,” added Kat, offering that Algatechnologies holds GMP, kosher and halal certificates; its product is permitted for sale and recognized as GRAS by the U.S. FDA and approved by the Japanese, European and other authorities.

Its newest product form is AstaPure 20 percent astaxanthin. “This content is significantly higher than in other forms of astaxanthin oleoresin currently available in the market, which normally offer only five to 10 percent astaxanthin content.”

Even though Pines has been a pioneer For 35 years and its fields have been organic for more than 25 years, the company hasn’t rested on its laurels; it’s continued to invest and innovate.

“In the past we have used cereal grass (both wheatgrass and green barley) grown in other locations in Kansas, but have come to realize that the scientists were correct about the glacial soils of northeastern Kansas being the best soils for growing the most nutritious cereal grass. Because of that, we embarked on a $2.5 million building program to re-establish facilities at the original location where the scientists grew the wheatgrass and barley grass used in the research,” explained Seibold, adding that Pines’ facilities are frequently inspected by state and federal agencies, two different organic certifying organizations, as well as kosher inspectors and other certifying organizations. “Our equipment has improved, but Pines Wheat Grass was an excellent product from the beginning. We seek to separate ourselves from other companies who do not grown their own green foods, especially those who source their green food ingredients based on price rather than quality.”

Capitalizing on Your Efforts

While making the purest, most nutrientdense Green food ingredients and products requires considerable commitment and careful attention to detail, Organic By Nature’s Wong is quick to point out an important fruit of those efforts afforded suppliers and manufacturers.

“The consumers are aware of the purity of the organic certified products, and their only reservation is the sometime higher cost of the organic certified products,” he said. “As I have witnessed during my years of selling both versions of the products, organic products may cost more to produce, however, they cost way less to market/sell. The consumers typically have many more questions or concerns about the quality of conventional products that they require more marketing time and materials.” NIE