A report that is to be prepared for assessing the benefits on allowing vitamins to be purchased through the supplemental nutrition program women, infants and children (WIC) makes news, while other companies announced new personnel and product launches.    

A key House Panel directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Nutrition Services (FNS) to prepare a report assessing the benefits of allowing vitamins to be purchased through the supplemental nutrition program WIC. 

The Natural Products Association (NPA) also sent a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Appropriations expressing its strong view that the WIC program should be expanded to include the purchase of multivitamins and multi-minerals. “Women, infants, and children utilizing the WIC program deserve equal access to and should be allowed to purchase vitamins,” said Dan Fabricant, CEO and executive director of NPA. 

BrandHive announced the selection of Shilpa Gauba as its social media and blogger outreach strategist. Gauba has over 12 years of corporate marketing experience along with ten years in developing and executing integrated online and social media marketing initiatives. She successfully managed social media, blogger and SEM initiatives for a variety of corporate clients in the fields of nutraceuticals, entertainment, telecom, food and beverage, and healthcare technology research.

Cypress Systems Inc. announced Kimbirly Orr has joined the firm to further develop their growing sales and marketing strategy. Kimbirly has over 35 years of professional marketing expertise and has worked for Colgate-Palmolive, A.C. Nielsen, Entertainment Merchants Association, New Hope Natural Media/Penton, and UBM. Kimbirly initially joined Cypress Systems in 2015 as a sub-contractor to develop and execute social media platforms for the company, and now oversees marketing and business development.

In addition, Cypress Systems Inc. signed a sales and marketing distribution agreement with functional ingredients distributor AIDP. Under this Agreement, AIDP will market and sell the full line of branded ingredients, including SelenoExcell® and Chromium GTF Excell® to the functional foods and nutraceutical industries.

Label Insight announced the launch of its Sustainability SmartSPEC™ solution. The Sustainability SmartSPEC™ joins Label Insight's SmartSPEC for SmartLabel, which helps CPG companies quickly and easily participate in the SmartLabel initiative. A SmartSPEC™ is a custom set of attributes that allows retailers to gain deeper insights into their inventory. Label Insight's study revealed that, beyond impacting food purchasing decisions, sustainable food practices encourage brand loyalty. Sustainability ranks higher in the customer decision-making process than brand recognition when it comes to pledging their brand allegiance. The top three attributes related to sustainability that consumers weigh most heavily are: product health/nutrition (37 percent), farming techniques (34 percent) and animal welfare (34 percent).

Activ’Inside will launch at Vitafoods Europe 2016 its new synergistic bioavailable solution: MemophenolTM. MemophenolTM has clinically demonstrated to enhance cognitive functions by improving learning, working memory and long-term memory performances. MemophenolTM is composed of French grape (Vitis vinifera) and wild blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) extracts, specific ingredients with scientifically proven beneficial effects on learning and memory impairments. 

NutriScience Innovations LLC announced its newest functional specialty ingredient, Spray Dried Lactoferrin. Lactoferrin has been recognized to exhibit various health benefits, with a range of functions including iron-binding ability, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities.