Nutra industry’s healthy turnaround in 2022 and expected roadmap towards future

Increased consumer awareness regarding the benefits of incorporating health supplements in regular diet has been a driving force for the nutra industry’s growth. The global nutra market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.07 per cent and reach $446.35 billion in the next five years. According to a Deloitte report, the Indian nutra market constitutes only two  per cent of the global market, but the industry has risen in the past few years and recently surged during the sudden pandemic outbreak.

The nutra market in India

The Indian nutra market is forecast to surge from $4 billion in 2017 to $18 billion by the end of 2025. Over 65 per cent of the nutra industry consists of the dietary supplements segment, which is expanding at a pace of 17 per cent, and is anticipated to reach 22 per cent annually, especially when preventive health has become focus after COVID.

The Government of India, under automatic route, has opened 100 per cent FDI in nutra manufacturing industry, and these organisations can market their goods through wholesale, retail, or e-commerce platforms. As a matter of fact, in 2019, The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increased from $131.4 million to $584.7 million.

The legal and regulatory framework

It is encouraging to see government and regulatory support in the form of legal framework. To maintain food-related uniformity, certain things have been elaborated in the Food Safety and Standards Act of India (FSSAI) Section 22, also recently FSS (Nutra) Regulations, 2022 has been implemented. India has progressed in developing a robust regulatory framework for nutraceuticals. However, a powerful system and better-coordinated actions are required to implement these guidelines and ensure food (health supplements) safety.

Packaging of nutra products

Packaging often presents a product’s first impression. The packaging type a company will choose often depends on the product’s form; such as powder, tablet, liquid, gummy, etc.

The younger consumers of the health supplement industry are vociferous about sustainable packaging, also, nutra products require careful handling for increased shelf life and damage-free delivery. Keeping that in mind, the key players are focussed on advanced packaging techniques, such as hologram-enabled authentication, anti-diversion codes, unique fingerprints and invisible inks and technologies to protect the products. Manufacturers are encouraged to adopt eye-catching creative packaging to draw consumers’ attention without compromising safety.

With the increasing demand of nutra products, high-end, smart and advanced machines act as backbone for the production. Few of the technologies that are used while manufacturing nutraceuticals are:

• high-speed small-volume liquid filler used to fill nutra and cosmetic products in ampoules and bottles.
• entry-level chamber washer used for cleaning smaller products, contacting, filling or compressing components in the production.
• automatic filling line used for solid doses such as tablets, capsules and soft gels enabling the manufacturer to upscale the production easily.
• industrial food freeze dryers protecting products against temperature, fluctuations, oxygen and light.
• flexible output line used for starch-free production of gummies and jellies.
• vertical bottom discharge centrifuges that work discontinuously to discharge the solids to the bottom.
• a hammer mill crushing aggregate material into smaller pieces. The most common applications can be found in food, chemical, plastic and cosmetic industries.

Raw material and product formulation

The acceptance of nutra products has given a boost to the industry players. This increased awareness and demand for nutraceuticals has encouraged the manufacturers to produce the products ethically. Hence, the ecosystem leverages the state-of-the-art blending systems designed to move bulk powders and materials hygienically between manufacturing steps and enable the most effective blending of powders available. Full-service nutra solutions, from sourcing the best ingredients to providing the bespoke finished products, the raw material/ingredients are sourced in a variety of forms, and are quality assessed to ensure the integrity of the final product.

The sudden outbreak of the pandemic has driven the growth of the nutra industry. Currently, the Indian market has wider scope to grow, evolve and acquire a good global position.