American ingredients vet helps Sicilian firm Bionap increase market profile

15-Nov-2021 - Last updated on 15-Nov-2021 at 17:49 GMT

An American ingredients industry veteran is helping an Italian company raise its profile in the US market.

Tyler Ris, who cut his teeth in the herbal ingredients business with Indena USA, has been working with Bionap, a company based in a suburb of Catania, the second largest city in Sicily. Ris began with family-owned Bionap in 2016 as a counry sales manager and became vice president of sales in early 2020.

Bionap has a unique story in that it is tightly focused on ingredients sourced in Sicily that embody that island’s ‘terroir’ to borrow a term from the wine industry.

“Bionap has been around for about 20 years,” Ris said. But in North America it has flown under the radar for much of that time, something that Ris is endeavoring to change.

“We really focus on developing the science around these ingredients,” Ris said. He spoke with NutraIngredients-USA at the recent SupplySide West trade show in Las Vegas, NV.

Bionap’s branded ingredients are based on local plants such as particular varieties of blood oranges or prickly pear catcus or local grape varieties. The company markets ingredients aimed at sports nutrition, cardiovascular health, weight management and more.

Part of Bionap’s story is sourcing much of its raw material from a particular part of the island, where ample sunshine combined with volcanic soils create a unique environment.

“We’re vertically integrated with a farm system right at the base of Mount Etna,” Ris said.

For more about the company, watch the entire interivew.