Eureka! Your team created a line of super supplements and your marketing department has an incredibly creative and compelling campaign and is anticipating undergoing pre-launch activities.

Whether a company has limited manufacturing capabilities, it has to get it all blended properly. After all, each product contains a multitude of ingredients, some old standbys like vitamin C and some of the hot new ingredients like coffee bean extract.Using an expert premixer will save not only cost, but also potentially profound headaches.

Core Benefits 

For example, California-based Paragon Labs proclaims on its website that it is especially adept at complex formulas.“We excel at complicated blends. We have special herbal production facilities and expertise in granulation and particle size reduction.” 

Premixing is an investment that makes perfect sense. INR in Italy is another premix specialist. Its website notes that it sources and stocks all ingredients, blends into an easy-to-use, one-item premix and customizes blends to meet a customer’s desired or specific nutritional claims. By working with a premix specialist, a company can reduce its number of inventory line items, reduce coordination and importation of multiple ingredients, and decrease potential production errors, especially when dealing with expensive or small quantity ingredients.

INR engages in powder development and production using dehydration, granulation and coating technologies in the supplement and food manufacturing sectors. The company implements technologies for emulsion, encapsulation, coating and granulation to protect products and to prepare powders as required.

But there’s also the time and expertise of knowing how each ingredient behaves and potential adversarial reactions with one another, or how various particle sizes should blend together, or when to use carriers (excipients) and which ones and how much. The goal is for the product to be standardized, shelf-stable and hold together (i.e., a tablet that disintegrates in one’s palm or a gummy that acts more like a literal jawbreaker are the result of poor mixing and blending).The use of premixes can also eliminate potential mistakes of batching or incorporation that may result in a particular sub-par dose level (40 mg of something instead of the required 80 mg), or other problems that can lead to product recalls—a typical public relations nightmare.

“Blending ingredients is an art and requires tremendous knowledge of Ingredient composition and behavior,” said Tim Bray, vice president of New Jersey-based Pharmachem Laboratories Inc. “Not all ingredients have the same mesh profile. Not all ingredients behave well next to each other. And one piece of equipment may not be sufficient for the blending of all ingredients.” Bray noted that a sound premix partner will have several types of blenders on-site, each with its own specialty; there are many types of blenders: tumble blenders, V-cone blenders, ribbon blenders, double-ribbon blenders, extrusion and fluid bed, just to name a few. “Your premix partner will examine your formula to make sure that it achieves the best uniformity of blend (homogeneity) and the right bulk density for your product.”

To achieve a streamlined process and paper trail may be the most attractive benefit. Bray explained: “Suppose, as a purchaser, you had a product that contained 35 ingredients.You now have the choice of either going out to 35 different vendors to purchase individual items, or, you can go to one vendor and cut only one purchase order.” 

Bray works with many supplement brand purchasers who tend to agree that the cost of cutting an individual purchase order is approximately $70.So, going back to the 35-ingredient formula, at $70 per, the cost would be $2,450—versus a $70 premix invoice.“Further, doing it the more expensive way, for many of those 35 ingredients the purchaser must buy full drums, even when only a partial is needed for production of the particular formula,” he added. “The balance of that drum either goes back into inventory or is disposed of if no subsequent needs for it (or them) are required.”

Competition & Cost 

Because utilizing a premix can lead to cost savings and be a much more expedient process, more supplement brands are choosing the premix route, and this has led to an influx of suppliers to provide a wide variety of premixes.The good thing is that more competition has led to better prices overall as premix expertise and sophistication also increase.

Another stocking benefit of a premix is that you only get the exact amount of those ingredients that you need, and—a bonus—it’s already blended into the formula. No tailings for inventory.So, if a company’s production requirements only need 3,050 kilos of material, a premix will provide only 3,050 kilos, the exact amount for production.No additional inventory to take up space and waste.

Yet there’s more. Because a production department now has a fully blended product, a company saves even more significant time and more money because it no longer must weigh materials. In addition, there is no more milling, blending or that annoying loss-on-yield that would frequently occur when one does its own in-house premixing.

Realize, too, that the current good manufacturing practices (cGMPs) and more frequent U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) visits are positive guidelines for keeping the suppliers in Compliance. Most now have third-party audits from Michigan-based NSF International or other certifiers; so just ensure your premix partner is in compliance.

Planning Ahead 

Now, imagine a company doesn’t have any new formulations in the planning stage that can work if on the shelves, but it still wants to compete effectively because of its talented and engaged marketing and sales team.

New York-based Fortitech Inc., now a part of DSM, has diligently formulated blends that can deliver delicious and healthy results. At the recent IFT show, the company debuted the following tasty health-promoting formulas:

• Antioxidant Gourmet Coffee is fortified with antioxidants A, C and E, as well as B vitamins and vitamin D3.Additionally, this premix is included in an instant coffee stick pack.

• RTD Peach Tea is a market-ready powdered beverage that includes resveratrol, CoQ10, zinc, chromium and B-vitamins. It supports several aspects of healthy ageing including cardiovascular health, blood sugar management and energy. This all-inone product was developed as a convenient way to deliver nutrients, flavors, colors, stabilizers and sweeteners in one complete powdered solution.Utilizing PowerCap technology, the premix is available in a universal cap that fits any regular-size water bottle, and as an integrated beverage system, it allows the solution to be released into a beverage at will.

• Brain-Boosting Biscotti is formulated with DHA, phosphatidylserine, choline, calcium and vitamins A, C, E and D3 to support enhanced cognitive function.

• Relaxation Chocolate Bars are dark chocolate infused with a custom combination of nutrients that includes GABA, magnesium, L-theanine, L-tryptophan to create a great tasting and indulgent, yet good-for-you treat.

Unless a company wants to make significant investments in the right blenders, their housing, proper care and feeding, and, of course, the expertise and knowledge of working with a mammoth multitude of ingredients with various behaviors, particle sizes, density and their own personality issues, premixing formulas is a viable and sensible route.

“I have heard it been said that giving up one’s own in-house premixing is like giving up one’s own first-born child,” Bray said. “But look what it does! It frees up production, it decreases inventory costs and allows more efficiency in your production line.” 

The thing to always remember is that the name of your company is on the finished product. You will want to partner with that supplier who will stand behind his—and your—product, hopefully sharing in your success.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Fortitech Inc., (800) 950-5156 

INR, +39 0498256850, www.personalizednutraceuticals.com 

Paragon Labs, (310) 370-1563 

Pharmachem Laboratories Inc.,(800) 526-0609