Late July Organic Snacks launched two new sandwich crackers. The cheddar cheese tastes great, and though I’m allergic to peanuts I’m told that were excellent to. According to Steve Bernard, CEO these were orignally slated to be the first two items, but difficulties in creating an organic GMO free sandwich cracker kept these newbies off the assembly line until this year.
Marty Hagge, energy bay whiz kid, who helped make Balance and Zone Perfect great success stories, joins new CEO Paddy Spence at Levlad/Natures Gate. Paddy, for those who don’t know, was the visionary who founded SPINS back in 1996, and gave me the best job I had in the industry, since this one, of course.
Avalon Naturals will no longer state the percentage of organic ingredients on product packaging. Shifting focus away from the debate on the legitimacy of their organic claims for products that are 70% water/hydrosols, the bodycare heavyweight’s new marketing strategy now focuses on “Consciousness in Cosmetics.”
Meanwhile both Avalon and Emerita touted the removal of paraben from their products. Both manufacturers note that while no link between parabens and women’s cancers has been found, the possibility of adverse affects prompted their decisions.
Imagine Foods Rice Dream introduced a new Horchata flavor. As a San Franciscan who frequents taquerias with more more passion than the White House spins news reports, I love Horchata and hesistate to offer my opinion. Okay, you convinced me. It actually tastes pretty good, though, not quite like my favorite at Taqueria Cancun. Yet even with the growing number of Hispanic consumers we don’t think this one will last through the year.
Zand introduced two organic throat lozenges, and also the addition of two organic SKUs to their top selling Insure Immune Support. The new organic lines will not replace the existing products and will sell for approximately $2.00 higher SRP.
No cavalcade of stars at this year’s show. No Linda Evans of year’s gone by or Natrol’s Magic Johnson in 2004 and even the Mr. And Miss MuscleHeads were absent. Once again, though there were a few stars, Ed Begley has a new magic cleanser, Marsha Mason an organic line of products and Marilu Henner, who I was told looked great, was promoting something I failed to remember.
Kudos to the following folks for continuing to the quiet revolution and expanding the availability of legitimate organic body care (meaning organic oils, and other ingredients, not just hydrosols) Beauty Without Cruelty, EO, Brookside Herbal Soaps, Dr. Bronner’s, Hemp Organics and SunDog (another Dr. Bronner’s brand).
