Image: The BE THE CHANGE team at Vitafoods Europe (from left): Andrea Tobler, Sven Altorfer, Barbara Stolba, Melanie Metzger, Elìa Diehl.
Inside BE THE CHANGE Immerse yourself in a huge and opaque industry: We visited the second largest B2B trade fair for nutraceuticals, Vitafoods Europe in Geneva. These are the insights we took away.
Vitafoods Europe was launched in 1997 to meet the growing demands of the emerging nutraceuticals* industry. This B2B trade fair* is the second largest of its kind after Vitafoods World and takes place at Palexpo in Geneva.
The annual event is aimed at a global audience from four sectors covering the entire nutritional supplements supply chain from end to end: raw material producers, contract manufacturers, product manufacturers and white label manufacturers*.
Inexhaustible – or what the industry is looking for
Quality, customer service and, not surprisingly, Swissness are increasingly sought after again. It seems that consumer demand for good quality products is growing, which in turn means that the industry has to move in this direction.
Equally evident is the demand from the industry for new and innovative raw materials that are reliably available. New innovations are being made from a variety of sources: from algae to protein peptides to probiotics. Trend products for 2023: weight management, products for the microbiome and mental performance, and products for women and the menopause.
A look into the Palexpo hall in Geneva: Over 1000 exhibitors from around 130 countries around the world.
On the bench – or what role sustainability plays
Surprisingly, the issue of sustainability in this industry is small to negligible from a global perspective. The searcher is most likely to find it in the raw materials. Some producers are trying to find more long-term solutions. Energy and water are being incorporated into production processes. Animal welfare has also gained some importance, but is anything but an omnipresent topic.
When looking for sustainable processes, you will find them particularly in Switzerland and Central Europe among contract manufacturers: processes such as encapsulation or bottling are subject to the stricter laws of the respective country on the one hand, but on the other hand, responsible companies also use the latest technologies.
Many product manufacturers are, however, switching to countries where these services are cheaper, which makes the product cheaper and increases the margin. There were no packaging manufacturers represented at Vitafoods who would have made a breakthrough in the Presented alternatives to plastic waste , BPA or other substances that are harmful to health and the environment.
The pressure from politics and regulation on product manufacturers is increasing. Consumer demand for sustainable products is growing rapidly globally, but is extremely fragile depending on the economic situation. This is where you, as a consumer, come into play to ensure that these products become the market standard in a sustainable manner.
In the jungle – or where the end customer stays
We never tire of emphasizing: your demand generates the supply.
Especially in the food and nutritional supplement industry. The hurdles for the consumer, However, the challenges of understanding and assessing the products are very great. It is a dense, impenetrable jungle.
For example, it is difficult for a layperson to tell the difference between white label products and products from a manufacturer. This means that the products and ingredients can hardly be checked for their quality or origin.
Likewise, sustainability and animal welfare are usually the subject of good marketing and are often incomprehensible or even a fraud and opaque for the consumer .
A league of its own – or what BE THE CHANGE does
As an organic-certified manufacturer and our Swiss made products under Swiss regulations, we are taking the following with us from Vitafoods 2023:
With our comprehensive new and sustainable approach – from raw material over quality to packaging – we serve a growing demand and act as a pioneer for the entire industry.
The CHANGE , the change we are driving forward, is multifaceted: health, sustainability, transparency and quality require new ways of producing raw materials, production and Packaging .
Swissness is in demand globally thanks to its reliability, customer service and the strict requirements of our food law.
* Glossar
Nutraceuticals : The term nutraceutical was created in the 1990s to define foods or parts of foods that offer specific health or medical benefits. According to this definition, nutraceuticals can be used for health-promoting or therapeutic purposes. The particular strengths lie in the health-promoting effect through immune strengthening and immune modulation, in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, digestive and mucosa-protective effects. [...] (DOI: 10.1007/978-3-662-64744-8_1 )
B2B: Abbreviation for Business to Business. Products and services that are offered and sold by companies for companies. The counterpart is B2C, abbreviation for Business to Customer, which describes the relationship between a company and its end customer.
raw material producers: Produce ingredients such as probiotics, algae raw materials, calcium, etc.
Contract manufacturer: Perform certain production steps such as encapsulation, filling, mixing, finishing steps such as pasteurization, and much more.
Product manufacturer: Produce products using their own recipes. Produce raw materials themselves and/or buy the ingredients from raw material producers. Almost everything is produced in-house, although some process steps may also be carried out by contract manufacturers.
White label manufacturers: Produce finished consumer products/entire product portfolios. These are purchased (without labels and marketing) from companies that do not manufacture products themselves in order to sell them under their own brand name.
packaging manufacturer: Are suppliers and partners of product manufacturers and white label manufacturers. BE THE CHANGE, for example, develops and innovates sustainable packaging in constructive partnerships with visionary packaging manufacturers.