RFI brings Brazilian ingredients into North America

Headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Grupo CentroFlora​, focuses on producing natural ingredients at its a pharmaceutical-grade, certified organic manufacturing plant, and will now work to develop products specifically for RFI​.

The company currently concentrates on supplying products containing botanical extracts indigenous to Brazil, such as guarana and yerba mate, which are used primarily as energy ingredients, the natural vitamin C extract acerola, jaborandi, an ingredient used to promote weight loss, and maca, a supplement aimed at boosting immune health.

CentroFlora also produces host of other products such as cat's claw, catuaba, mara puama, pau d'arco, quercetin and suma (Brazilian ginseng) and have a large range of spray dried fruit and a profitable vegetable powder business, which concentrates most on tropical fruits such as passionfruit, graviola, pineapple and papaya.

"With the renewed focus on quality in the dietary supplement industry, we are very pleased to be working with this company to offer our customers the best in single ingredients and custom formulations,"​ said Jeff Wuagneux, president and CEO of RFI Ingredients.

CentroFlora is likewise keen to promote the message of environmental and economic sustainability.

"The company works with local farmers in Brazil and guarantees to buy a certain crop if the farmers grow it,"​ Ellen Schutt, vice president of marketing and brand strategy for RFI told NutraIngredientsUSA. "They also teach farmers how to grow crops they may not be familiar with, again guaranteeing that they will buy the crop at harvest."​

In addition, Schutt drew attention to the company's reforestation programs, on-site organic garden used to teach local women how to grow organic crops for food, and various social programs.

This agreement comes hot-on-the-heels of RFI's acquisition of Beyond Organic Ingredients, a supplier and producer of organic raw materials at the end of July, from the Garden of Life​ group.

At the time, the company said that this move had "strengthened its position in custom formulations"​, but that is had "no immediate plans for additional acquisitions"​.