In this episode, Wilson talks with Bill Chioffi of Ric Scalzo Institute for Botanical Research.

In it, Wilson and Bill discuss: What the institute is and what its mission, and Wilson asks:

Currently, herbs depending on the level of research and claims that it seeks to make can be classified as a Food, Drug, or Cosmetic, which are all regulated by the FDA. A example of this is Vitamin C can be classified as a drug, if it’s delivered at the proper levels and you use a claim that it helps treat scurvy.

Is the Institute looking to develop botanical drugs, dietary ingredients, or where is the core focus?

What is the importance of the herbal supply chain for the research that you do? How do you think climate change will impact herbs, where they are grown, and their chemical profiles?

Nuherbs had the pleasure of working on several potential botanical drugs and the rigorous qualification and quantification process involved. What are some take key learnings that you think we can adopt in the dietary supplement spaces with regards to dietary ingredients?

https://www.nuherbs.com/articles/how-the-institute-for-botanical-research-furthers-evidenced-based-naturopathic-medicine

Holly Johnson of the American Herbal Products Association discusses the AHPA’s Tonnage Surveys. These reports present the findings of surveys APHA conducts to quantify annual harvests of certain North American herbs in commerce. In this episode, Holly discusses:

• How the AHPA conducts their surveys, and shares their research methodology, how their studies are conducted, how they take the data from their surveys, and share it with the herbal community.
• Land stewardship and conservation, and sustainable wild harvesting practices.
• A case study on the goldenseal and how the demand for the 45 different species of it grew has developed since the 1990s.
• How to use data in order to cultivate and harvest North American herbs and botanicals.

Listen to the full episode below or read the transcript. https://nuherbs.com/resources/the-importance-of-ahpa-s-tonnage-surveys

In this episode, Wilson and Asa Waldstein, the principal of the Regulatory Compliance and Supplement Advisory Group and the creator of  the #WarningLetterWednesday. Asa and Wilson discuss how herbalists, TCM practitioners, naturopaths, and functional medicine doctors should make claims.

Making Claims

Claims you make as a practitioner are different from claims you make products, as product claims move out the practice scope and more into the realm of marketing (and regulation comes in).  It's really important to remember which hat you're wearing when you're doing what. Just because a practitioner or doctor may be able to make a statement  in one environment and one setting, doesn't mean they can make it in another setting.

2022 and 2022 Warning on Testimonials and Paid Influencer Claims

The FDA and FTC, they look at really the 30,000 foot view of a company's online persona, and the FDA investigator with probably no knowledge of TCM,  Recently, the  FDA, FTC and National Advertising Division, sent out 700 letters to 700 individual companies to put them on notice for their product review testimonials.

When using any testimonials, they must be truthful, not misleading. Whoever is giving the testimonial, has to have tried the product before. And testimonials get even dicier when it comes to online statements made about herbal products, especially from social media influencers.

The First Amendment

The First Amendment gives a person the right to say a lot of things. But there's a difference between you as a public citizen and you as a practitioner/commercial marketer and commercial speech. They're regulated quite differently. As a practitioner, when you apply the first amendment to your customers and what they may say about your products or services, your customers are allowed to say whatever they want, that's uncompensated.

Now if you as a practitioner then said, "Oh, that's so cool. I want to use that in my marketing." Then, if that practitioner reposted that or used that on their website, they're substantiating that claim. You’re inadvertently bridging that gap between potentially protected speech and that commercial connection. Oftentimes, you may not know any better.

As a practitioner, you're not responsible for what anyone else says. But the second that you start playing with it or interacting with it, then the government says, "Well, now you're sort of adopting it." This applies to simply sharing it on social media. You can comment on it, on their page, and it could still, if the totality and the sum parts indicate that's what you're trying to do, then you might get in trouble as well.

Listen to the complete episode to learn more about product claims, identifying high risk buzzwords,how to use lower risk words and statements, how to use the FDA Small Entity Compliance Guide to your advantage, and how to use your discretion in one-on-one consultations and selling compounded formulas.

Learn more about Nuherbs: https://nuherbs.com

Subscribe to the Herbal Explorations Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/62PaOPlfMbWRmatQJNcHi2?si=7c38397101294d6a

Subscribe Warning Letter Wednesday, a newsletter about FDA and Gov’t Regulation Enforcement Trends: https://www.asawaldstein.com/warning-letter-wednesday

Conservation, Preservation, ESG, and the Work of FairWild

In this episode, Wilson talks to Anastasiya Timoshyna of FairWild. Anastasiya and Wilson talk about a specific conservation effort called TRAFFIC and how FairWild is working to ensure that the trade in wild species is not a threat to environmental conservation.

As part of this work, Nuherbs has been supporting the development and the growth of the FairWild Standard and the FairWild initiative. FairWild’s standard is that it brings a rigorous and thorough framework to sustainability of wildcrafted plants, in particular, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAP plants). In this interview Wilson asks Annastasiya the following questions:

• What percentage of our herbs would you estimate are wildcrafted?
• Why is it important to have sustainable practices, with the increase in demand for medicinal aromatic plants?
• Why does Fairwild include a social responsibility portion in their plan?
• How do you think companies and brands can become better stewards of these natural resources?

To hear the discussion, listen to the full episode, watch the video, or read the full transcript.

Climate Change and Developing Sustainable Harvesting Practices

Wilson Lau, and Josef Brinckmann, Traditional Medicinals, Vice President of Sustainability talk about climate change, growing herbs, and building a sustainable supply chain. According to Josef, sustainability begins with evaluating and understanding what is needed most to sustain and improve your supply chain.

1:30: What do you consider to be a sustainable herbal supply chain? What goes into those considerations?

4:30: Sustainability is about not causing detriment to the places you operate in. It also means you’re paying fair wages and people are making a livelihood.

8:30: Site selection is extremely important.

9:30: Case study on Sustainability and Licorice.

13:00: Risk Mitigation in the supply chain and having multiple suppliers to deal with climate change and other geo/political factors.

14:30: Developing New Sourcing Practices: Closed-Loop Supply Chain, Diversification, Source-to-Shelf

17:32: Climate change, changes in plant growth patterns, and plant/ingredient chemistry.

19:00: Do we need to carry larger quantities of ingredients to combat availability issues?

20:30: What to consider in long term storage and maintaining potency.

23:20: Planning long term crop availability.

26:00: Other Climate Change Considerations:

1. Social responsibility
2. Conservation on a global scale; implemented at the local level
3. We all have to do better
4. Investing in sustainability

Read the full article online and learn more about Nuherbs.

Does Just In Time Inventory Make Sense For the Global Supply Chain?

In this episode, Wilson Lau and Sam Joshi, talk about “Just in time inventory” and some trends that make “just in time herbal ingredients” harder to secure these last few years. The conversations provides an extensive overview of the stakeholders involved the global herbal supply chain including:

1. Government / Regulators
2. Farmers / Wildcrafters
3. Aggregators
4. Processors
5. Traders / Exporters
6. Logistic Providers
7. Importers
8. Manufacturers
9. Distributors
10. Brands
11. Marketers
12. Retailers /Platforms
13. Consumers

Wilson and Sam then discuss the trends that specifically related to sourcing ingredients in 2022 and how they have changed in 2022. They cover everything from international logistics to shipping container shortages. They also talk about:

1. The New Cost of Crops
2. Hoarding of Ingredients
3. Costs of Regulations
4. Labor Shortages
5. Environmental and Weather Patterns
6. Crop Destruction

They also explore the growing complexities surrounding getting herbs and botanicals into the country, including the challenges with clearing and qualifying materials:

The conversation ends with a look at the importance of data. As a manufacturer or brand, data and analytics is no longer a nice to have, it’s a must have. It’s an investment well worthy of spending the money/time/effort.

In this episode, Wilson and Ann discuss key areas of sustainability impacting the growth, cultivation and harvesting of herbs. Listen to their conversation to better understand:

Farming Practices - Soil Health: Choice of the crops, variety, seed, rotation, soil fertility, The temperature, soil, terrain, micro-climate and humidity all influence potency of the plant. For the plants to continue to thrive, the entire ecosystem must be protected.

Regenerative Farming: Regenerative farming practices have arrived at the front of the sustainability discussion. While the ideals of regenerative farming are great and noble, regenerative is still a work in progress science-wise, mainly because the impact of regenerative practices are difficult to measure and compare. A single practice sits within a web of interdependent practices, so it may be regenerative on one farm but destructive on another.

Non-GMO Crops: This includes native plant preservation, fertilizers, and doing our best to avoid any non-natural additives

Other resources to learn more about sustainability and building more sustainable manufacturing processes:

Plants are used as medicine by 80% of the world. Similarly, in their 2019 Sustainability Report, the Hartman Group found that in 2019, 51% of consumers purchased sustainable products because they were better for the earth and the environment, up from 32% in 2017.

1. APHA ToolKit
2. APHA - Sustainability Resources
3. SHP - SHP Sustainability & Regenerative Practices Toolkit
4. Sustainability in the herb trade - Wilson Lau, Nuherbs
5. SHP - Just How Sustainable is the Herb Industry?

Read The Full Article and Watch The Video Here: https://www.nuherbs.com/resources/the-business-of-botanicals-w-ann

Jon Benninger of Informa, and Wilson Lau of Nuherbs will be discussing the importance of hybrid events and platforms such as SupplySide365 and Jon’s Morning Mingle are for the herbal supply chain.

In this episode, they discuss and explore how the herbal industry can use online platforms to supplement traditional trade shows to discover new suppliers, customers, and make new connections. Jon and Wilson look at how companies will do business in the dietary supplement industry using technology from 2022 and beyond.