NEWS

0610141009

ENZOGENOL gains GRAS (Food-safe Status) in U.S.

Auckland, NZ – February 15, 2013 – Enzogenol® has been used for over 12 years in several dietary supplement formulations in the U.S., New Zealand, Japan and many Australasian countries for brain health, cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory benefits. It is now certified for use in food applications. New Zealand-based ENZO Nutraceuticals Ltd. announced the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) certification today.

"Acquiring GRAS status in the U.S. opens a lot of opportunities and will greatly increase the reach of Enzogenol® in the U.S. market,” explained David Giles, Managing Director at ENZO Nutraceuticals. Giles noted Enzogenol® can be used in various food applications, including non-alcoholic beverages, snack, sports and nutrition bars, cereals, and processed fruit and vegetable products.
With the GRAS classification, food products containing Enzogenol can be formulated at a functional dose level.  In comparison to other polyphenol ingredients such as maritime pine bark and grape seed extracts, Enzogenol® was determined by the expert review panel to be safe at considerably higher concentrations in foods.

"We are seeing great interest from companies operating in the functional food sector not just in the U.S. but also in Asia, Australia and New Zealand,” said Giles, adding that customers are drawn to the 100% pure New Zealand origin coupled with water-only extraction. He pointed out that the clinical research evidence supporting the efficacy of Enzogenol® and the sustainability of New Zealand's Pinus Radiata forestry is equally appealing.

Dr. Sangeeta Patel of Product Research Solutions (based in Davis, CA) was one of the experts reviewing the scientific data on the safety of Enzogenol®. "The extent of the published safety data on Enzogenol® from animal toxicology and human clinical studies, and the excellent documentation provided by ENZO Nutraceuticals made our task of assessing the safety of the product very straight forward,” noted Dr. Patel. “The studies have shown an excellent safety profile of Enzogenol®, and given the nature of its extraction method the product is certainly one of the best proanthocyanidin ingredients the food industry could use," he said.

The product is distributed in the US by Biotheta Health Solutions, Salt Lake City, UT.