Open Sourcing the Food, Nutrition, and Supplement Industries

By Jefferey Jaxen

The next wave of the food, supplement, and nutrition market is upon us with little fanfare. Perhaps because the age of information we are in has once again caught the public and market by surprise with its rapid pace.

The idea of health supplements is nothing new, however the market has become lazy. Consumers settled for the status quo and companies were happy to take a back seat to meet that demand. However, all are in for a rude awaking. Garden of life and Subway just received their warning shot, and in doing so a revolution was quietly started. No longer will the informed public trust hype, social media marketing pushes, celebrity endorsement, or promises of meaningless words like ‘natural’. What is needed are truer, more honest products that place integrity and transparency above all other aspects.

We are witnessing the beginning of an open source food, nutrition, and supplement movement. Open source being defined as having universal access to a product’s design or blueprint. This runs opposite of the dominant trend of centralized, elusive practices that are constantly seen. For example, when Whole Foods was pressed to go GMO free, they released a statement saying that such a goal would be accomplished by 2018. Well Whole Foods, this is the age of rapid information and transformation perhaps you should pick up a copy of The Power of Now by Eckart Tolle. Such giants are handicapped by their size and or unwillingness to change with a rapidly innovative and continually informed consumer base.

Enter the next wave of open source products being met, not by mega corporate giants or multi-million dollar industries, but championed by individuals/companies that are willing to separate from the crowd and put their reputation and livelihood on the line to be different and I say, better.

Recently I did an article titled, “Radiation Solutions” describing strategies for dealing with contamination from the ongoing Fukushima nuclear disaster. In researching supplements to defend, detox, and mitigate the effects of the radiation on the human body, I discovered that there are a dedicated handful of individuals/companies out there doing exceptional work above the rest. Yet there seems to be a blind spot for the average consumer that I hope to point out with this writing. Since I am independent, I do my homework before I feel comfortable naming any supplements or products. I contacted a company that manufactures Spirulina and put them through the ringer with the tough questions. The following are the questions I asked that didn’t seem to be addressed on their website:

• On your website, I didn’t see any mention of testing your product for radiation contamination from the Fukushima disaster. Am I overlooking that information?
• You website uses the term “biosecure zone”. Again, is this zone open air and in contact with the waters of the Pacific ocean?
• You website mentions that you are regulated by the FDA and other state/government departments. Yet it is well known that all the above mentioned have under-reported or omitted testing completely for radioactive contamination. Are you solely relying on those agencies/entities or do you have in house testing methods?

I expected the run around or no response. However, what I received back was excellent information that I think needs to be shared. Not only for the public record, but also as a bench mark for other companies that wish to stay in business by raising their integrity to be included in the next wave of open sourcing that we are now in. Below is their response:

Fortunately, Fukushima has not affected our spirulina or Astaxanthin. Though we haven’t had any problems with radiation, we do testing in our labs and we send samples to an outside lab for radiation testing. Each test has come back negative for radiation. I also want to note that our spirulina and astaxanthin products are not grown in the ocean- they are grown in lined, fresh water ponds. The 5% sea water mixture in the spirulina is pumped from 2000 ft below the ocean surface and has not seen the surface in over 2000 years. It pretty much some of the purest water you can get. 

The Biosecure zone means that the area we are located in is free from pesticides, herbicides and GMOs. We test for radiation in our products here in our labs as well as with a third party lab, ATI Laboratories. 

I’ve attached a statement from our company with a bit more detail. Please let me know if you have any more questions. 

Here’s some additional information from our founder and chief science officer, Dr. XXXX XXXXX. Please let us know if you have any additional questions. 

Nutrex Hawaii implemented monitoring of our Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica® and BioAstin® Natural Astaxanthin products immediately after the disaster in Japan through independent third party laboratory analysis. The analyses found no detectable radiation in products produced on 3/22/2011, which was the time in which it was theorized that the tail of the radiation plume from Japan could reach Hawaii. Nutrex Hawaii continues to test its products every quarter for radiation contamination through independent third party laboratory analysis. The most recent quarterly radiation testing of Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica and BioAstin products produced on February 23, 2014 found no detectable radiation. In particular, iodine-131 was below the detectable level of 0.3 Bq/kg; cesium-134 was below the detectable level of 0.4 Bq/kg; cesium-137 was below the detectable level of 0.4 Bq/kg; and strontium-90 below the detectable level of 0.01 Bq/g. 

Hawaii is located 3,850 miles southeast of Japan. Hawaii is over 60% farther from Japan than it is from California. Both the low level and high level winds from Japan travel from west to east well north of Hawaii. Significant radiation contamination in Hawaii from the nuclear disaster in Japan is very unlikely. Even so, the State of Hawaii, Department of Health is continuously monitoring radiation levels in Hawaii and had only detected minuscule amounts of radiation from the disaster in Japan; roughly 1000 times less radiation than one would receive in a trans-pacific airline flight. 

Furthermore, the seawater used in the production of Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica is pumped from a depth of 2000 feet. This cold, deep seawater originates at the North Pole and very slowly migrates in deep sea currents toward the equator without mixing with upper level seawater. The last time this cold deep seawater was exposed to the atmosphere was over 2,000 years ago and it is completely free of any modern day pollution, including radiation,and will remain so for another 1,500 years. 

We will continue radiation testing of our products by independent third party laboratories to ensure that they are the highest quality, most healthful products available in the supplement industry.

I encourage all those reading this to press the issue with your supplement companies, food industries, and health products. Do not let those that wish to make money at your ignorance continue to do so. Publish the results on Facebook, Twitter, and other outlets of their willingness to be transparent. The idea is to reward those who will work with the public. The others will be forced to change or be crowded out of the market. It’s really that simple. Our only rule is that we do not attack anyone! If done correctly, such things have no place in this movement. The integrity and motives of those using such tactics will be questioned and ultimately ignored.

About the Author

Jefferey Jaxen is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com and an open source researcher and writer. In addition he serves as director of alternative and holistic health for the Awake & Empowered Expo. You can find his latest research, information and work at the following websites: www.jeffereyjaxen.com and www.awakeandempoweredexpo.com. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/JeffereyJaxen or contact him directly at http://www.jeffereyjaxen.com/contact.html