Taiyo's new certifications align with Amazon, Canadian requirements
Taiyo said it has achieved Informed Ingredient certification on its SunActive IsoQ, its branded form of quercetin. Taiyo claims high bioavailability and solubility as differentiators for the ingredient.
The new certification confirms that SunActive IsoQ is free of impurities and substances banned in sports nutrition products. The certification will helps customers comply with Amazon’s evolving dietary supplement safety documentation requirements.
Lengthening list of certified ingredients
Taiyo has previously achieved the Informed Ingredient certification for its other functional ingredients including Sunfiber, Suntheanine, Matcha and Teavigo. The company said it plans to add more products to this list in the future.
“Taiyo continues investing the time and effort into Informed Ingredient certification for our products as it provides our customers the additional confidence that Taiyo’s ingredients are not only effective but also safe for athletes and general consumers wanting further transparency in the products they consume,” said Scott Smith, vice president of Taiyo International.
The Informed Ingredient certification is a first step toward achieving the product-based Informed Choice and Informed Sport certifications, all of which are offered by scientific consulting and certification firm LCG. LGC is one of Amazon’s approved third party testing organizations.
Putting Canadian climate change concerns to rest
Another certification of interest to customers has to do with complying with Canadian regulations aimed at making sure imported substances comply with environmental and climate change goals.
Taiyo International and its Canadian partner Mitsubishi International recently announced that the branded Suntheanine ingredient fully complies with Environment and Climate Change Canada’s New Substances Program. This means that up to 10,000 kilos of the ingredient can be freely imported annually into Canada, whereas theanine offerings that have not been certified under the program would essentially be limited to 100 kilos a year.
The goal of the regulations is to ensure that new substances introduced into Canada have undergone ecological and human health risk assessments, and any appropriate control measures have been taken. The regulations are complicated, and some had assumed they applied only to bulk chemicals.
But Smith said food grade chemicals and ingredients are also subject to the requirements. That could come as a nasty surprise to some manufacturers if the supply of some ingredients might be artificially choked off because they haven’t yet complied with the program, which is jointly administered by ECCC and Health Canada.
“We want to help clear up confusion that the New Substances Program only applies to chemicals, when in fact it also applies to a wide range of substances and finished products ranging from cosmetics and natural health products to food additives and novel foods,” Smith said.
