Sensapure Flavors Expands Sales Force with Recent Addition of Tyrus Sciarra, West Coast Sales Manager.

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Salt Lake City, Utah,  May 29, 2023 – With the recent addition of Tyrus Sciarra, Sales Manager – West Coast, to the Partnering Team at Sensapure Flavors; Utah’s only full-service flavor house is now truly the destination for product development, from coast-to-coast.

Tyrus Sciarra has been living in the space where flavors and sports nutrition collide for quite some time now. His passion for great-tasting nutrition products began in college where Tyrus was a Division One soccer player in the Missouri Valley Conference for the University of Evansville and in the Horizon League for the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay. After graduation, Sciarra began working for ADM-Wild Flavors and later represented MANE Flavors for several years.

Sciarra brings a passion for solving formulation and commercialization challenges in the sports nutrition space and has been a key supporting player in the growth of several of the largest existing and up-and-coming nutrition brands that are bringing the world ‘better-for-you’ options in a variety of food and beverage categories. Helping brands meld unique flavors and innovative functionality is what he does best.

“We are super excited to add Tyrus to the team with a focus on the active lifestyle brands and manufacturers along the West Coast. His sports nutrition and flavor expertise makes him a great resource for current and new customers.“ said Jeff Reynolds, Founder and CEO of Sensapure.

Shayne Howell, COO at Sensapure welcomed Tyrus to the team with this introduction, “Tyrus fills our team roster on the west coast perfectly. He joins a fantastic Sensapure sales team including Mark Lazar in the Midwest/Chicago, Sean Kolhase in the Southeast/Atlanta, and Jared Bateman in the Mountain West/SLC.”

When he is not on the road, in planes, or working with customers at our Salt Lake City, UT location, Tyrus lives in the greater Los Angeles area with his Fiancée, Jordan, and their two dogs; an enormous Great Dane/Mastiff named Kazi and less enormous, but equally lovable Bluetick Coonhound named Khaleesi.

Tyrus Sciarra – Sales Manager, West Coast

 

 

About Sensapure Flavors:

Sensapure was born as the in-house flavor department of a large, national-brand nutraceutical manufacturing company. Sensapure Flavors serves the active lifestyle nutrition and supplement industry with exciting flavor technology and unmatched applications experience. As Utah’s only full-service flavor house, Sensapure provides flavor design and creation in our state-of-the-art Flavor Lab; food and beverage development through our Product and Applications Lab, data-focused sensory evaluation in our on-site Sensory Lab; and in-house production of well over a million pounds of liquid, spray-dry encapsulated, and dry blend flavors each year.

FTC’s “Friendly Reminder” on Product Claims

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FTC’s “Friendly Reminder” on Product Claims

In early April of 2023, a Notice of Penalty was issued to nearly 700 companies by the Federal Trade Commission that focused on the substantiation of product claims. Not to be confused with the FDA, whose jurisdiction is primarily over claims appearing on product labeling, the FTC’s jurisdiction is over claims made in advertising. They state that “claims in advertisements must be truthful, cannot be deceptive or unfair, and must be evidence-based” (FTC Advertising and Marketing). Both organizations, however, have the right to monitor each other’s categories thanks to the 1971 FDA and FTC liaison agreement.

The goal of the Notice was to ensure companies are aware of acts and practices that are unfair and unlawful under the Federal Trade Commission Act. A few of the main takeaways from the notice include,

  • Requiring a reasonable basis from the advertiser that the claim can be backed by reliable evidence.
  • Requiring reliable scientific evidence to substantiate the claim.
  • Cannot falsely claim or imply the ability of a product to cure, mitigate, or treat any serious disease without statistically significant results from human clinical trials.

An important thing to note is that the notice extends to more than just stated claims. Advertisers are responsible for reasonable interpretations from the consumer. If a consumer can reasonably infer a claim from the advertisement, even if it is not explicitly stated, whatever the marketer’s intent was when making the claim is irrelevant (Section 3(a)(1)). An example given in the Health Products Compliance Guidance is as follows:

Example 1: A brochure for a weight-loss product shows images of doctors in white lab coats looking through microscopes, molecular structures, and a stack of medical journals.  These images give an impression of scientific legitimacy and likely convey an implied claim that the product has been clinically proven to be effective for weight loss.

Of the 670 companies that received this notice, most were in the dietary supplement, natural products, or essential oils industries. However, recipients were not restricted to those industries. Major retailers like Amazon, Costco, CVS Pharmacy, Pepsi Co., and a handful of pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer Inc, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., and AbbVie Inc. were included.

Similar notices have been issued by the FTC in the past. In 2021 two notices were issued detailing the guidelines around Endorsements and Testimonials, and Money-Making Opportunities. It is common for companies to receive notices from the FTC, and it is not an indication that those companies have broken the law. It is merely communicating the importance of substantiating advertising claims in accordance with the Health Products Compliance Guidance document.

Commissioner Christine S. Wilson announced that the “Commission cannot obtain civil penalties for first-time violations” in her statement following the issuance of the notice. This is an important detail to note because it demonstrates that companies are unable to be penalized without having first received a notice from the Commission. Receiving a notice of penalty does, however, allow the FTC to seek civil penalties if the advertisement claims are not deemed to be substantiated. Companies can face fines of up to $50,120 per violation.

To avoid civil penalties, and receiving future notices, it’s important to understand the FTC’s most recent Health Products Compliance Guidance. Difficulties can arise when due diligence is not executed before product launch. Especially because the FTC does not require preapproval before a product launch.

Many problems can be avoided by formulating with qualified product development partners who understand how to supply accurate nutritional and supplemental facts. With Sensapure being Your Destination for Product Development, we are equipped to help you meet your product claims and provide the appropriate documentation behind our materials and flavors.

It’s important to work with experts in the field of product development who know the ins and outs of raw materials to avoid future FTC complications. Working with an experienced attorney who specializes in food and supplement label reviews, and marketing claims is also recommended.

Ensuring that your advertising and product claims follow the FTC mandates can be daunting. Contact us today for product development and assistance with substantiating your product’s label claims.

Sensapure Flavors joins in support of H.R. 5214

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Sensapure Flavors joins UNPA, AHPA, CRN, NPA, and CHPA in support of HR 5214 —

A bill allowing US taxpayers who have funded an HSA or FSA account to use their funds from those accounts to purchase dietary supplements. 

Sponsored by Utah’s own Representative. John Curtis, this bill aims to utilize the health benefits of vitamins and supplements to assist people’s well-being.

Read more here: http://ow.ly/rlBE50OkTPi

Sensapure Flavors Invests in Beverage Development — Justin Cline

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Sensapure Flavors Invests in Beverage Development Expertise With Recent Hire of Former PepsiCo R&D Talent — Justin Cline

Salt Lake City, Utah, Dec 19, 2022 – With the addition of Justin Cline, Senior Scientist, to the product development teams at Sensapure Flavors; Utah’s only full-service flavor house is now truly the destination for product development for the active lifestyle consumer.

Justin Cline loves creating new beverages. But he especially loves working on protein-rich drinks that can be challenging to formulate for RTD (ready to drink) processing and packaging. A former PepsiCo R&D Associate Manager, Cline served as the lead product developer for top-selling global brands & product applications including Gatorade, Tropicana, Naked, IZZE, and Quaker.

Prior to his role at PepsiCo, Cline worked at Imbibe, a leading beverage development company, where he was responsible for leading the development, scale up, and launch of a wide range of products, including dairy/plant-based protein RTDs, energy drinks, juices, concentrated syrups, and powdered stick packs. Before that, Justin worked with global dairy cooperative, Fonterra Inc. where he managed processing pilot plants, developed technical guidance for new product developments of client’s needs including beverages, nutritional bars, snacks, yogurts, and cheeses. While at Fonterra, in partnership with PepsiCo, Cline authored a beverage handbook on research and development fundamentals of dairy and protein beverages – improving the food safety standards for brands around the world. Cline graduated with a master’s degree in Food Science and Nutrition from the University of Illinois.

“With our recent investment in state-of-the-art beverage processing equipment and bringing Justin on board, Sensapure can now work with virtually all beverage types to make exciting, new, functional drinks that taste amazing.“ said Jeff Reynolds, Founder and CEO of Sensapure.

Shayne Howell, COO at Sensapure welcomed Justin to the team with this introduction, “Justin has demonstrated he can create best-selling beverage products at PepsiCo… we are delighted to bring his expertise to all of Sensapure’s customers.”

Mr. Cline will lead the beverage development and pilot processing efforts at Sensapure.

About Sensapure Flavors:

Sensapure was born as the in-house flavor department of a large, national-brand nutraceutical manufacturing company. Sensapure Flavors serves the active lifestyle nutrition and supplement industry with exciting flavor technology and unmatched applications experience. As Utah’s only full-service flavor house, Sensapure provides flavor design and creation in our state-of-the-art Flavor Lab; food and beverage development through our Product and Applications Lab, data-focused sensory evaluation in our on-site Sensory Lab; and in-house production of hundreds of thousands of pounds of liquid, spray-dry encapsulated, and dry blend flavors every month.

Building Better Chocolates

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FEB 23- BUILDING BETTER CHOCOLATES EVENT RECAP

On Feb 23rd Sensapure Flavors hosted the “Building Better Chocolates” training event for Sensapure customers. Nutrition brands and manufactures sent their product development teams to Salt Lake City for the morning to learn about the art and science of creating better tasting chocolate products.

 

Why Chocolate? (Because it’s chocolate!)

 

For decades, the top two selling flavors of all protein supplements have been chocolate and vanilla. And let’s face it… chocolate is just more fun. From decadent fudge flavors, to bright and sharp dark chocolates, there are as many ways to fall in love with chocolate as there are different uses for the tasty flavor

Some key words people used to describe their favorite chocolates were smooth, creamy, rich, and complex. With this information we are able to see how much mouthfeel impacts overall chocolate preference. We can use this information when formulating to include creamers, fats, and gums to recreate a similar consumer experience.

It’s all about the growth of Plant Proteins

Years ago, a protein shake meant one thing. A whey protein, artificially sweetened, creamy milk chocolate shake. And getting the flavor system right on a product with plenty of Sucralose and milk solids wasn’t all that tough. After all, it was essentially a powdered chocolate milkshake. But times have changed. The desire to swap out artificial sweeteners for non-sugar natural alternatives, and ditch the whey protein for either plant based or collagen sources makes the development of great tasting protein supplements a little more difficult.

With year-over-year growth exceeding 30% for plant-based protein, meal replacements, and powdered supplements, the need to find ways to deliver great tasting chocolate products has never been higher.

We started with craft chocolate

The day began with a chocolate tasting presented by the same folks who host Chocolate Fest every year in Salt Lake City… Caputo’s European Fine Foods. Adri Pachelli, head of education and all things chocolate at Caputo’s lead the tasting with a review of cacao history, cultivation, processing, fermentation techniques, roasting secrets, milling specs, and of course a deep dive into how crushed cacao becomes craft chocolate.

 

The Science of Chocolate

With our new found vocabulary and educated chocolate taste buds, we let Doug Gledhill, one of Sensapure’s certified flavor chemists walk us through how we can mimic the various component parts of chocolate flavors found in nature using either natural or artificial ingredients.  “As a flavor chemist we need to know all about nature so we can recreate it in the lab,” said Gledhill. “Cocoa Powder alone can have over a thousand different naturally occurring chemicals.”

Let the Tasting Begin

The group of 30+ participants then tasted four different categories of products (whey / plant / collagen / natural sweeteners / gums and masking agents), evaluating each of the 12 products on sweetness levels, flavor attributes, and overall preference.
During this portion of the taste testing experience, Sensapure was able to demonstrate some key changes that lead to the overall improvement of the product. Using the Sensapure Tasting App, we were able to record the unbiased feedback in our audience’s preference on the samples before and after Sensapure solutions were applied.

2021 Flavor Trends – The year of social wellness

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2021 Flavor Trends – The year of social wellness

Consumers are shifting their focus towards their health and immunity now more than ever with social media leading the way. Discover upcoming flavor trends.

With 2020 behind us, we have found new ways of connecting with our friends, family, and coworkers—and with that we have seen dramatic shifts in consumer behavior and the trends that follow. Immunity has stolen the spotlight as we continue to improve our overall health into 2021. We are seeing an increase in “better-for-you” alternatives, such as botanical cocktails and mocktails. As social media continues to lead the trends, we are coming together in new creative ways and creating meaningful collaborations. From Insta-worthy drinks to celebrity inspired flavor trends, innovation in flavors and new products are not slowing down any time soon.

1. Immunity Never Tasted Better

Drawing from traditional medicine and ayurvedic influences, the introduction of flavorful ingredients like turmeric, ginger, lemon and honey into new product formulations give them an extra immune boost. Elderberry and Vitamin C based products were in high demand and continue to win shelf space in our medicine cabinets.

2. Social Distanced Drinks with Pure Class

With so many hard seltzers and alcoholic spritzers now to choose from we are seeing classic flavors with an exotic twist. Think pear, grapefruit, mandarin, pomegranate, and cranberry with a botanical twist of ginger, lemongrass, hibiscus, elderflower, or lavender.

Many consumers are moving to a low alcohol or non-alcohol lifestyle, but lucky for them there are now some great zero-proof alternatives. From refreshing flavored sparkling waters (like lemon cucumber and lime mint) to craft artisan mocktails that use many of the same great tasting ingredients sans the alcohol.

3. BYOB: Be Your Own Barista 

As everyone has their stay-at-home lifestyle now down to a science, it makes it harder to meet up for a social cup of coffee. Self-quarantine has forced many people to create their favorite hot beverages at home and discovering their inner barista. With a huge increase in the variety of coffee products making their way to the shelves, some popular flavors trends include: Cinnamon Dolce, Hazelnut, Toffee, White Chocolate Mocha, Salted Caramel, Cinnamon Roll, Toasted Coconut, Vanilla Honeycomb.

4. Insta-worthy Drinks

Dalgona Coffee. The popularity of some pretty Insta-worthy drinks has surfaced, including Dalgona Coffee. Dalgona Coffee (AKA whipped coffee) gained its popularity via TikTok and quickly became the #1 googled recipe. The drink is just 3 ingredients in equal proportions, instant coffee powder, sugar (or granulated sugar substitute), and hot water. You can make the drink easily at home by whipping it until it becomes incredibly fluffy and then adding it to a glass of hot or cold milk of your choice. While Dalgona Coffee isn’t the most complex formulation, there is a big surge in leveling up your daily coffee experience with the addition of ingredients like protein, collagen, adaptogens, mushrooms, and more.

Butterfly Pea Flower Tea. Another Insta-worthy drink that has gained viral popularity is Butterfly Pea Flower Tea. Butterfly pea flower comes from Southeast Asia and is a brilliant blue color with a slightly sweet taste. This ingredient offers a color changing effect when exposed to citric acid. With the squeeze of a lime or lemon, the blue hue transforms to a vibrant violet color.

Butterfly Pea Flower is now making appearances in teas, cocktails, ice creams, baked goods and more to create a picture-perfect experience.  As this trend is making its way off the internet and into market, bold and exciting flavors such as: Plum, Lychee, Asian Pear, and Passionfruit are perfectly paired with this new sensation. 

5. Creating Famous Flavors 

Celebrity inspired flavors is the next level of collaboration taking place. Several companies are developing flavors around key celebrities and influencers. January 1st, 2021 Liquid I.V. launched their collaboration with international DJ, Kygo. Kygo’s flavor of choice was Pina Colada because he felt it matched the overall upbeat mood of his music. Liquid I.V. also collaborated with DJ Steve Aoki earlier in 2020 to launch his signature Strawberry Cake flavor.

As these 2021 social and flavor trends continue to evolve and create the need for Insta-innovation, Sensapure is here to help you bring them to life.  

Contact us today to get started!

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Salt Lake City, UT 84104

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(801) 456-4284
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