SupplySide Global 2026 gave the RIBUS team a packed week with formulators, brand owners and contract manufacturers. Between the IO Summit, our Annual Business & Breakfast at Border Grill, the Keychain dinner and a steady flow of visitors at Booth #6553, one theme kept coming up: every active needs an excipient, and more brands want that excipient to be clean label. Close behind it was a harder question: what does clean label actually mean?
If we met in Las Vegas, thank you. If we missed you, here is a look at what we shared.
IO Summit: The Evolution of Clean Label
On Oct. 27, RIBUS President and Co-Founder Steve Peirce opened the week at the IO Summit: Buyers Market with a look at how clean label grew from a niche request into an expectation. It started with shoppers turning products over and reading the label. That habit began in food, then moved into supplements, pet products and OTC.
The numbers back it up. According to the Acosta Group, 87% of health-focused U.S. shoppers read labels all or most of the time before buying something new. ADM’s Global Lifestyles Survey found 70% of consumers gravitate toward products with ingredients they recognize.
Because there is no legal definition of clean label, Steve offered three questions to test any ingredient:
- Can the consumer pronounce it?
- Does the name tell you where it came from?
- Do you feel better about choosing A over B?
He also walked through how documentation has changed. Thirty-five years ago, if you couldn’t fax a kosher certificate or spec sheet within half an hour, you didn’t have it. Today, RIBUS has a dedicated team completing customer forms, some three pages and some 55, and our website lists every certificate and ingredient we offer.
Steve also used rice wax as an example. The name sounds natural, but the process behind it can include hexane extraction and bleaching. Compare that with rice hulls, which are steam-sterilized and ground into a fine powder. The takeaway: the name on the label is only part of the story. Sourcing and process matter just as much.
Steve closed with three points for every formulator to take back to their team:
- Clean label is now the baseline.
- Inactive ingredients are noticed.
- Transparency is the new bar.
After the session, Steve sat down with the Ingredients Online media team to keep the conversation going. Want the full talk? Download the IO Summit presentation here.
Annual Business & Breakfast: Expansion of Clean Label Excipients
On Oct. 29, we welcomed guests to Border Grill for our Annual Business & Breakfast. Steve started with the trends on the show floor: GLP-1 and metabolic health, women’s hormonal health, healthspan, protein and fiber, mushrooms and creatine, cognition, and sustainability. Then he asked what connects them all.
The answer: every active requires an excipient. Make it clean label.
From there, Steve shared how the RIBUS portfolio has grown. Nu-RICE and Nu-FLOW came first, and as customer needs changed, we developed blends to solve specific production problems:
- Nu-MAG as a lubricant
- Nu-BIND as a binder
- Nu-SORP Oil as an oil adsorber
- Nu-SORP Water as a moisture adsorber
- Nu-FILL as a filler
Today Nu-FLOW has 14 family members, seven natural and seven organic.
Steve also introduced our new application guides for flow agents, lubricants, binders and fillers. Each one starts with the production challenge, like the five powder failure modes that cause clumping, bridging and erratic flow, and then points to the clean label excipient that solves it.
The morning wrapped up with two ways RIBUS supports manufacturers beyond the ingredient. The RIBUS Certified Contract Manufacturer (CCM) program recognizes partners who formulate and produce supplements with our ingredients, with referrals, joint promotion and early product previews. We were proud to recognize our newest CCM members, Eagle Labs, NutraSky and Summit Rx. We also announced 30-minute tech-to-tech meetings, where our team reviews your current challenges, arranges samples and follows up after testing.
Missed the breakfast? Download the presentation here.
Keychain dinner: Alicia on the panel
Keychain brought together leaders from across the ingredient, food and beverage industries for an evening in Las Vegas on Oct. 28. Alicia Kasch, RIBUS Director of People & Operations, and Alexa Grimes of Artemis International joined a panel moderated by Keychain’s Oisin Hanrahan. The conversation covered the growing demand for clean label ingredients, changing consumer expectations and how manufacturers are adapting.
Alicia also shared how RIBUS defines clean label, a question that came up all week. She built on Steve’s three questions with a fourth:
- Do you know what the ingredient is and where it comes from?
- Can you pronounce it, or is it abbreviated?
- Do you want to consume it?
- How was that ingredient produced?
If an ingredient passes that test, we’re comfortable calling it clean label. The room had plenty to say about how quickly consumer expectations are shifting, and the panel looked at where the biggest opportunities for innovation and growth lie.
That’s why we keep our definition, and the documentation behind it, out in the open. Our certifications and specs are on our website, and we share the presentations we give, so you can see exactly what you’re getting. Thank you to Oisin Hanrahan and Jordan Weitz, Mitchell Madoff and the entire Keychain team for hosting.
Keep the conversation going
At RIBUS, we’re transparent about our offerings, certifications and specs, and we want to make it easy to take the next step after the show.
- Request samples. Free samples are available in both organic and conventional. If you requested one in Las Vegas, it’s already in process. Otherwise, request samples online.
- Download the presentations. Breakfast deck | IO Summit deck
- Book a tech-to-tech meeting. Spend 30 minutes with our team on your formulation challenges. Contact us to schedule.
- Get free technical support through the Clean Label Alliance.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by, joined a session or shared a meal with us. We’ll see you at the next show.
