The natural product industry was collectively shocked and saddened by news of the recent passing of Rand Harlan Skolnick, president and CEO of Solgar Vitamin & Herb. Skolnick passed away from pancreatic cancer on Friday, July 4 at the age of 50. His long time partner Terrence Meck was at his side.

With over 25 years experience in the natural products industry, Skolnick helped lead his family-owned company—and indeed the dietary supplement industry as a whole—from a small cottage industry into a burgeoning new mass-market phenomenon.

Skolnick joined the family business full-time in 1979, overseeing the development of the West Coast and Southeastern distribution operations and national sales force. His father Allen Skolnick, one of the founders of Solgar, soon passed the baton to his son, and Rand became the youngest CEO in the natural products industry. Reaching further, in 1989, Skolnick opened up Solgar Europe, and Solgar eventually became the number one supplement brand in the UK.

He served as a board member of the East Coast Health Organization and was involved in the comply committee of the National Natural Foods Association (now Natural Products Association). Skolnick was also an avid philanthropist, serving on the board of directors for Bailey House, a non-profit organization that provides housing and supportive services for those with AIDS. Through his family’s foundations, he donated hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to charities such as the United Jewish Appeal, SAJES, Jewish Theological Society, Solomon Schecter Schools, Fuchsberg Foundation, as well as various YMCA Groups and other local community groups.

Skolnick was recently honored with one of the NPA’s highest tributes, the President’s Award, and was to be given the award at the association’s tradeshow in July. “He was clearly the embodiment of this award as demonstrated by his lifelong commitment to the industry and its core constituents, natural products retailers,” said David R. Seckman, executive director and CEO of the NPA. “Rand was a true pioneer and his presence will be greatly missed.”

Among many people who he touched through the years, Skolnick gave Gary Barrows his start in the health food industry back in 1983. Barrows is now the president of Bluebonnet Nutrition Corporation (Sugar Land, TX). “Like my career, he spawned many other successful careers by demonstrating wisdom and guidance to those who worked for him,” said Barrows. “He personally left me with several pearls of wisdom that I still use and value today, and he did it in a way that only Rand could: brash, direct and fun loving.”

William P. Arthur of Nutraceutical Solutions Consulting, a longtime friend of Skolnick’s and former advertising consultant to Solgar, said he believes that he owes his life’s work in the industry to Rand. “He lived by the philosophy that an idea is only as good as its execution,” remembered Arthur. “He accomplished more in his short 50 years than most of us could do in 100, and if you had the privilege of working with him, you would catch his fever and exuberance as if he lit a bonfire in your soul.”

Dan McSweeney, president and founder of Vitamin Retailer Magazine, Inc., remembers that Skolnick was “literally the first person to call me to congratulate me and take out an advertising contract when I initially announced the creation of Vitamin Retailer in late 1993. Rand took out a one-year contract on our back cover position, which was a bit of a risk considering that VR was a start-up magazine with no guarantee for success. His unwavering support, along with the support of a few others like Elliott Balbert of Natrol, was crucial toward getting VR off the ground in those early days. I will be eternally grateful for the support, friendship and guidance that Rand offered to me through these past 25 years.”

A memorial service was held for Skolnick on Monday, July 7, in Riverside Memorial Chapel in New York City. Those wishing to further honor Skolnick’s memory may make a contribution to Rand’s Foundation, The Palette Fund, P.O. Box 865, Lynbrook, NY 11563.

Three major US grocery chains will be launching the NuVal Nutritional Scoring System in their stores in September, marking the first-wave debut of an on-shelf consumer education program that is expected to be operating nationwide by this time next year.

The system, developed over a two-year period by a panel of 12 medical and nutrition experts from leading North American universities and health organizations, uses a proprietary algorithmic formula to score the nutritional value of foods on a scale of one to 100, weighing some 30 different nutrient factors; the higher the score, the higher the nutrition value. NuVal, LLC, the independent company formed to bring the system to market, is a joint venture of Topco Associates, LLC, and Griffin Hospital, home to the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center and a teaching affiliate of the Yale University School of Medicine.

The first grocery chains to use the NuVal system will be publicly named in September, and NuVal President Nancy McDermott said the newly formed company is focused on reaching all US markets and scoring all 40,000 of the products available in the average grocery store by September 2009.

NuVal's double-hexagon emblem, bearing the score of each individual product, will appear on shelf tags next to the price. Retailers will use banners, shelf-talkers, brochures, associate training and other forms of in-store communication to tell the NuVal story.

The NuVal Nutritional Scoring System is powered by a patent-pending algorithm known as the Overall Nutritional Quality Index or ONQI. The algorithm was developed by a 12-member scientific panel led by Dr. David L. Katz, MD, associate professor, adjunct, of Public Health at Yale University School of Medicine and a nationally recognized authority on nutrition, weight control and the prevention of chronic disease.

NuVal is a joint venture formed in 2008 by Topco Associates, LLC (Skokie, IL), and Griffin Hospital of Derby, CT, a non-profit community hospital and home to the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center.

For more information, call Topco Associates at (888) 423-0139 or visit www.topco.com.

US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Mike Leavitt signed a Joint Progress Statement on June 18 with the Honorable Li Changjiang, Minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) of the People’s Republic of China. The document outlines steps taken by both nations in implementing the 2007 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on food and feed safety.

The parties met in Annapolis, MD, as part of the fourth session under the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED).

The MOA, signed during the third session under the SED in December of 2007, established a bilateral mechanism to provide greater information and other assurances to enhance the safety of food and feed products traded between the two countries. Since its signing, HHS’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and AQSIQ have planned a joint implementation work strategy and have begun the initial steps called for under the agreement.

For more information on the December 2007 MOA on the Safety of Food and Feed, visit http://globalhealth.gov/news/agreements/ia121107b.html

To view the Joint Progress Statement Regarding the Five-Year Work Plan under the MOA, visit http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/international/progress_HHS_China.pdf.

FutureCeuticals, Inc.’s (Momence, IL) VitaGranate®, a standardized pomegranate extract, was found to be an activator of the heart-health influencing enzyme Paraoxonase 1 (PON1), according to a recent study.
 
According to researchers, ex vivo study results showed that VitaGranate stimulated PON1 in human serum by as much as 47 percent. Ex vivo human sera results such as these are of interest due to their high potential for potency in in vivo human physiology.
  
Research has identified the importance of the enzyme PON1 in lipid metabolism and in the prevention of the onset of various chronic diseases. Normal active levels of PON1 have been associated with healthy HDL (high density lipoprotein) and LDL (low density lipoprotein) levels. PON1 stimulation reduces the oxidation of LDL that can form plaques along arterial walls. PON1 stimulation has also been reported to protect HDL from oxidation. This activity is essential in the prevention of atherosclerosis due to the fact that HDL is essential for the removal of excess cholesterol from tissues.
 
Recent science has also suggested that increases in PON1 activity may aid in the prevention of macular degeneration, rheumatoid arthritis, cataracts, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome and in promoting overall longevity and health.

VitaGranate Pomegranate Extract is made with premium quality pomegranate and is standardized to ellagic acid and punicaligins.

For more information call FutureCeuticals at (815) 472-6853 or visit www.futureceuticals.com.

A new complementary pocket guide from The Organic Center (Boulder, CO) can help consumers avoid the highest-risk fresh produce during both the summer season and winter, when a significant share of fresh produce is imported.

Available for free download at The Organic Center's website, www.organic-center.org, the “Organic Essentials” pocket guide presents lists of conventional fruits and vegetables that the Center has determined pose the most significant pesticide-related risks and, therefore, are the most critical produce items for consumers to purchase as organic.

In the wallet-sized, four-fold guide, “Organic Essentials” offers two lists covering domestically grown fruits and vegetables that pose the greatest pesticide dietary risks, while two other lists apply to imported produce that typically enters the US market in the wintertime.

In 1993 the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released a widely acclaimed report entitled Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children. The report set forth a case to protect infants and children from developmental problems triggered by pesticide exposures. The reforms recommended by the NAS have been just partially implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency. As a result, there have been only modest changes in the uses of several risky pesticides in conventional farming over the last 15 years.

The pocket guide presents pesticide risk rankings for several key fruits and vegetables and is based on The Organic Center's March 2008 report, Simplifying the Pesticide Risk Equation: The Organic Option.

To learn about high-risk conventional produce and to learn more about the new pocket guide, visit www.organic-center.org or call (303) 4990-1840.

Matt McLean, founder and CEO of Uncle Matt’s Fresh, the organic produce “arm” of Uncle Matt’s Organic (Clermont, FL), announced on July 8 that the number of organic citrus growers and the amount of acreage dedicated to organic citrus that their company manages, is rising at a steady and healthy pace. According to McLean, “we currently manage over 1,000 acres of citrus groves that include 15 different family-owned farms. This number is expanding everyday as we help conventional groves transition to organic.”
 
As a vertically integrated grower, manager and marketer of organic citrus, Uncle Matt’s Fresh provides management of these small family growers by putting together an organic farm plan, executing the plan to increase nutrient density, developing bio diversity, building healthy soils, plus selling the fruit for the benefit of the families who own the groves. Added McLean, “Our growers have anywhere from as little as three acres to as large as 100 acre groves. Just this spring, we had an additional 100 acres of Valencia oranges transition to organic.” The process of going from conventional to organic takes three years to complete.

Of the 1,000 acres that Uncle Matt’s Fresh manages, a majority goes to juice production and the remainder goes to fresh fruit sales.
 
For more information visit www.unclematts.com or call (352) 394-8737.