Companies pair-up to offer foreign-sourcing support service

According to the two businesses, it is only worthwhile for North American manufacturers to purchase lower cost ingredients if the quality and sourcing is secured by means of support services such as the ones they are offering through their partnership. The issue of sourcing security has come into the spotlight of late due to two cases involving contaminated Chinese products. These included contaminated pet and human foods, as well as a shipment of illegal genetically modified rice to Europe. Both events have brought about harsh criticism for companies choosing cheaper less-secure ingredients over high quality, safe, but probably more expensive, ingredients. Novel Ingredient Services was formed in 2001 and has offices in New Jersey and California. It claims its expertise lies in sourcing from low cost countries, but from facilities which run according to Good Manufacturing Practices. Some industry advocates say third party sourcing of ingredients from China can be tricky because it can be difficult to ascertain where a manufacturing facility is and if in fact given ingredients did originate from it. As such, a viable support service could bridge this security gap for food, beverage and dietary supplement manufacturers in North America. "This partnership will allow us to market a broader range of ingredients within the food and beverage markets that so many manufacturers look to include,"​ said Ingredient House CEO Graham Hall. "Novel has been marketing these nutritional ingredients for years and as such is a strong partner for broadening our product offering to our combined customer base." ​​The Ingredient House was formed in 2006 and initially focused on high intensity bulk sweeteners for the food and beverage industry. The company said it saw growing opportunities in natural health products.