Spring is calling us all outside and the days are getting longer. But it’s also a good time to start thinking about products to boost your immune system for the autumn. In this issue, we’d also like to introduce our regulatory affairs department.
The immune system is a complex network of cells, organs and tissues that protect our body against disease. It defends our body by fighting invading pathogens such as bacteria, viruses and parasites. This system has two lines of defence: the innate and acquired immune system.
The innate immune system is your body’s first line of defence and instantly reacts to invading pathogens. It consists of barriers such as the skin and mucous membranes, as well as cells such as macrophages and natural killer cells.
The acquired immune system, also known as the adaptive immune system, develops throughout your life and generates a specific response to each pathogen. This consists of T cells, B cells and antibodies that retain an immunological memory of how to react to protect the body from future infections.
A healthy immune system is vital to our health as it does more than fight infections. It can also identify and destroy cells that have been modified by diseases, as happens with cancer. It is important to support your immune system with a balanced and optimised diet, enough exercise, sufficient sleep and to give up bad habits like smoking.
We would like to present some key substances that strengthen the immune system, all of which we can incorporate in products for you:
Vitamin C: A powerful antioxidant that supports the immune function and can reduce inflammation in the body.
Vitamin D: The “sunshine vitamin” plays a key role in regulating the immune system. A lack of vitamin D can be associated with depression. The vitamin is formed by our skin when exposed to sunlight, which means only a limited amount is available at darker times of the year. Supplementing may be useful, especially in winter months when there is a lack of sunlight.
Zinc: This mineral is important for the normal functioning of the immune system and can help to reduce the duration of colds.
Functional mushrooms: These are trending right now and are accredited with having numerous positive effects on the immune system.
Echinacea: Echinacea is a plant used to boost immunity and reduce the severity of colds.
Of course, there are also many other ingredients that we can use in your new product.
Ask us about our products to strengthen the immune system!
Would you like a different product? No problem!
Offer your customers a special taste sensation to strengthen their immune system:
Do you have your own product idea?
Do you want to launch a nutritional supplement or flavoured beverage powder, but aren’t sure what’s permitted when promoting your product? Maybe you’d like to market an organic product, but the regulations for organic products give you a headache. Our regulatory affairs department would be happy to help you in all regulatory matters relating to food legislation for the items we produce.
Our experts prepare specifications for your products from which you can take all the relevant mandatory information to create your labels. We also offer tips and guidance on the content and design of your printed forms. You can also ask us to review the compliance of your recipes with EU law, as well as the applicable maximum quantities and limits before creating your theoretical recipe. Our colleagues are happy to support you in creating statements (e.g. vegan or allergen statements) for your products and can help you register your products in non-EU countries by preparing registration documents (e.g. certificates of origin).
Should you need any help when writing a statement for a food supervisory office or if you have any other questions about food legislation, you can contact our regulatory affairs department at any time.
To stay up to date with food regulation matters, all employees in our regulatory affairs department continue to attend further training to ensure they have the latest specialist knowledge. What’s more, these colleagues work closely with other departments such as customer service, raw material purchasing and quality assurance to provide you with the best-possible service.
Vitafoods Europe Geneva, the global trade fair for food supplements, will take place this year from May 14 to 16. For the first time, we will be there with our own stand to present our portfolio and new, tasty product concepts.