As we kick off a new year and new decade, I figured I’d write a few words outlining our ITC thoughts, to augment the What’s Hot / What’s Not info piece our team published a few weeks ago.
I’ve now been part of the ITC team for over two and a half years, and during that time, have seen several of our initiatives gain momentum and even start to be fulfilled, including creating industry voices for the prebiotic, curcumin and coconut categories, investigating product quality through random testing programs for Coenzyme Q10, astaxanthin and curcumin, and perhaps just as importantly, starting to shine light on the traditionally opaque if not outright troublesome parts of the natural products and dietary supplement industry supply chains.
I’m personally excited to start 2020 with ITC having acquired a significant voice, not only in the categories I mentioned, but a broader voice on industry issues and initiatives. After all, this is now technically my fourth different decade in the industry (ouch, that hurts), and I’ve watched the industry grow and flail (read ephedra and CBD) during that time. I’m truly excited about the insights and intelligence we’ve been accumulating here at ITC across multiple categories, globally, and look forward to significantly expanding that over the next few years. I’m very proud and appreciative of the truly superior companies we get to work with, and the opportunities they are creating to change human and animal health.
Specifically, what’s next for ITC?
2020 is pegged as a year for growth as we are expanding our resources and infrastructure. (link to Caiti press release). We’ve got ambitious work plans for the Global Curcumin Association (GCA), Global Prebiotic Association (GPA) and Coconut Coalition of the Americas (CCA). We’ve long had our eye on several intriguing and contentious ingredient categories that could use stewardship, and focusing on trust transparency in the natural products industry, identifying when it’s there and commenting on its lack, remains at the epicenter of our ITC mission.
We’d like to significantly broaden this last item – identifying trust transparency moments or gaps. We introduced our ‘What’s Wrong with This Picture’ blog theme last year, have often written about ‘trust transparency collisions’, and have also worked with organizations that are building trust transparency into the core of their cultures.
So our call out to all of you: As you go about your own businesses in 2020, be mindful of trust transparency, in your own organization, in our industry, and in your relationships. And if you happen to think of it, drop us a line at info AT trusttransparency DOT com and point to the examples you find, both good and needing improvement…
~Len
