Nutiva expands portfolio of supplements, launches US-grown hemp seed product

14-Mar-2018 - Last updated on 14-Mar-2018 at 16:44 GMT

Among a portfolio of cooking oils, pantry staples for baking, and spreads, Nutiva is expanding further into the supplement space, launching several new products at the Natural Products Expo West show in Anaheim, CA, last weekend.

The brand has been around since 1999, but its first supplement, a plant protein, launched last year. At last weekend’s Natural Products Expo West show in Anaheim, CA, the company showcased a reformulated plant protein product, which is not yet on store shelves but due to go into distribution this year.

Additionally, the company is launching a powdered version of coconut MCT oil, positioned for “energy, mental clarity,” Nutiva communications manager Madalyn Crum told NutraIngredients-USA.

“A lot of the products we offered are single-ingredient products, and that became a highly competitive field, [so] moving into the multi-ingredient, value-added products was a way for us to stand out and use our expertise in the organic industry to create these really clean products,” Crum said.

“We’re a really trusted brand. So offering something like our organic plant protein that has super clean ingredients, I think it’s just a great way for us to get into that space.”

A new future with US-grown hemp

Nutiva’s founder, John W. Roulac, started the company almost a decade ago mainly selling hemp bars. “He had 500 hemp bars in the trunk of his car, and from there, we went into hemp seeds, chia seeds, coconut oil,” Crum said.

This year the company claims to be the first national organic company to launch US-grown hemp seeds. “We started with hemp products in 1999 and we’re really excited to expand in the US. The differentiation is that it’s all coming from Colorado instead of Canada,” she added.

“None of our products have CBD but that’s a very hot item and topic right now, but it’s raising awareness around hemp products. They bring a lot of nutritional values—omega-3 and protein,” Crum said. “For us, we’ve given over $1 million for hemp advocacy in the US, so it’s about taking our knowledge from the hemp industry and bringing it to the US so that hopefully, one day, we can offer more SKUs from the US.”