Benefits of an Informed Ingredient: ENovate Biolife

India-based raw materials supplier ENovate Biolife has an ingredient certified with Informed Ingredient  – RedNite®. We recently discussed with ENovate Biolife their reasons for certifying with Informed Ingredient and the impact on their business.

Tell us a little bit about ENovate, and who are your target customers?

ENovate Biolife has been innovating and supplying ingredients since 2009. We combine a modern scientific approach with more traditional botanical ingredients to develop our proprietary nutraceuticals. We currently have five branded ingredients and we continue to develop our portfolio for the sports nutrition industry, as well as for active lifestyle, cognitive and joint health products. Our products are manufactured in India – we have our own facility and we also use third-party manufacturers – and we have an international customer base.

When did you first hear about Informed Ingredient?

We knew about the certification possibilities when ingredients were previously permitted on Informed Sport. Banned substance testing and certification have been an important component of the sports nutrition and dietary supplements industry for the last decade.

When LGC launched Informed Ingredient - a dedicated testing programme for raw materials – it coincided with developments to our commercial and marketing plans, and we decided the time was right to move forward with certification.

What were the main reasons for certifying RedNite® and EnXtra®?

 Our flagship product RedNite is especially suitable for the sports nutrition industry and used in many pre-workout and post-workout products. It was evident from the emerging trends that consumers were demanding more from supplement brands in terms of assurances for clean and safe products, as well as traceability and quality manufacturing.

With ongoing incidences of athletes failing doping tests due to contamination – often through no fault of their own – it is important that raw materials suppliers such as Enovate Biolife go the extra mile and provide the highest levels of quality assurances.

Consequently, we certified RedNite with Informed Ingredient.  Testing our ingredients for more than 250 banned substances, and at analytical levels as low as parts per billion, provides significant assurance for our customers.

How did you find the certification process, was it more challenging than you expected?

The certification process was meticulous and very detailed, but very much what we were expecting of a world-leading certification company such as LGC. It involved testing the ingredients during the certification process, as well as completing a Manufacturing Assessment Questionnaire (MAQ), which interrogates the manufacturing and packing behind the products.

The MAQ provides assurance that the ingredients are made to high-quality standards, but also expertly risk-assessed for contamination with substances banned in sport by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). It improved our knowledge of the risks associated with banned substances and also provides important third-party assurance.

In terms of internal quality controls, how useful has it been to have a leading third-party organisation assess the manufacturing of your raw materials, and put in place a testing schedule?

Informed Ingredient has been designed to provide third-party oversight and assurance for our customers, and it also complements our own internal quality controls. We understand that botanical ingredients can be complex, and we are fully committed to improving and sustaining our knowledge of these complexities.

LGC’s expertise in banned substance risk assessment and testing is world-leading, so we use our relationship with LGC to develop our own expertise. And having the ongoing assistance and expertise provided by LGC is also very reassuring.

The MAQ involved a detailed review of the manufacturing process, looking at our standard operating procedures (SOPs), training, knowledge of contamination, and with LGC’s support we have been able to further enhance these. Our production frequency means that we test every batch of RedNite and EnXtra, and knowing that every batch is free of banned substance contamination is a priority for us and a priority for our customers.