"Minor" Rice Ingredient Now Playing Major Role

St. Louis, MO — Steve Peirce, President of rice-based ingredients manufacturer RIBUS, Inc., will address advancements with “minor ingredients” that play major roles in organic food and beverages at the Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore, MD September 20, 2012. He will join other industry innovators speaking on the panel “Organic Product Development: Exploring Advances in Organic Minor Ingredients” from 9:00-10:00 a.m. in room 315 at the Baltimore Convention Center.

The seminar, which is part of the Organic Trade Association’s All Things Organic conference track, will address: “Whether your products are certified organic and contain 95% organic ingredients or are in the “made with” category, the goal of the organic sector has always been to make continual strides towards including as many organic ingredients as possible. Processors who keep pushing for better ingredient options, along with innovative ingredient manufacturers, have been, and will continue to be, the catalysts for bringing new organic ingredients such as these to market.”

Other speakers on the panel are: Gwendolyn Wyard, Regulatory Director, Organic Standards and Food Safety, Organic Trade Association; Lisa Brines, National List Manager, USDA- National Organic Program; Grace Marroquin, CEO, Marroquin Organic International, Inc.; and Jeff Rakity, National Sales Manager, Natural Flavors.

St. Louis-based RIBUS is the global leader in rice-based alternatives to “chemistry lab-sounding synthetic ingredients.” Using RIBUS’ ingredients, processors and brands can maintain the same ingredient functionality while increasing the percentage of organic ingredients in finished products, negating the need for allergy declarations, and removing words of concern to many consumers such as silicon dioxide, magnesium stearate, and sodium stearoyl lactylate from the product ingredient label.

RIBUS produces non-genetically modified (non-GMO) natural, organic, and gluten-free rice-based ingredients for leading global producers in the food, beverage, and dietary supplement sectors. Approximately 40 percent of all RIBUS ingredients are certified organic, making up the fastest growing segment of the company’s products.