Innovation

Nature intended us to consume essential vitamins and minerals by eating fresh, vibrant vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. FoodState is in the business of augmenting consumers’ diet with a broad array of authentic nourishment as available naturally, not simply through vitamins alone. Since standard manufacturing processes can destroy several delicate phytonutrients that are indispensable in supporting health, FoodState had no other choice than to innovate the standard supplement manufacturing and synthesis process. With collaboration from the University of New Hampshire, FoodState designed the Slo-Food Process, which is used to make products for both their brands, MegaFood and INNATE Response Formulas.

Engineered to maximize the potency of a vitamin or mineral within the phytonutrient-rich whole foods selected, the Slo-Food Process, as the name implies, is a slower, gentler manufacturing of whole food supplements. At each of the seven step processes from farm to tablet, innovation was paramount in creating a supplement that emulates nature and delivers a noticeable impact on consumers’ journey toward optimal health. Alison Moore, Great People Finder at FoodState, said that the Slo-Food Process “closes the nutritional gap” by augmenting one’s diet and enlightening people on the measurable difference organic food makes. An amalgamation of innovations comprises the Slo-Food Process, which delivers a tablet solely derived from whole foods with 100% of the fruits, vegetables, and whole grains utilized. In addition, the Slo-Food Process operates sustainably by creating zero waste. The seven steps are as follows: connect, pick, grind, transform, dry, tumble, and press.

1. Connect: FoodState prides itself for having personal relationships with all of its farmers and experts. To become Farm-Fresh Partners, farmers must be organic agriculturists and undergo a two to three year-long evaluation. Expert physicians that evaluate the entire end-to-end processing, from farm to tablet, are, as its website states, "world-renowned leaders and pioneers of integrative medicine, valuing a healing-oriented healthcare approach by encompassing the mind, body, and spirit.”
2. Pick: The integrity of all of FoodState’s products are dependent on the quality of the produce from where they are manufactured. Principal to the efficacy of every supplement is the superiority of every apple, orange, berry, and grain. This is evidenced by “brilliant jewel-toned colors, rich aromas, and unmistakable tastes retained by our dried-food ingredients,” said FoodState's CEO, Robert Craven, in an interview with WMUR NH Chronical on January 7, 2015. The horticultural acuity of FoodState’s farms allows for its products to impart sensory qualities hallmark to each produce used.
3. Grind: FoodState is unique for using cold-milling to grind the foods into an Italian ice-like consistency. This facilitates the absorption of indigestible plant fibers. In other words, the broccoli that one eats raw is digested and absorbed less than the Italian Ice-like broccoli, which underwent cold-milling at FoodState.
4. Transform: Understanding that not all the nutrients in raw foods are available to be readily digestible, FoodState introduced another innovation unique to the company, which maximizes the nourishment of fresh food. Natural, enzymatic pre-digestion improves the bioavailability of each produce. This occurs in a series through massive tanks. FoodState’s proprietary pre-digestion process is unlike other companies because it does not seek to supplement whole food to boost its concentration but rather optimizes and showcases the nourishment already present. This differentiation is vital in maintaining them as a whole food supplement, not a chemically produced multivitamin.
5. Dry: The groundbreaking innovation of the Slo-Food Process is FoodState’s Refractance Window Drying technology. Its objective is simple but practiced solely at FoodState: squish whole fruits, vegetables, and grains to the exact point of dehydration while preserving all the aforementioned sensory qualities food possess and maximizing nutrient retention. This drying method is unique because it does not expose the food to damaging heat, thereby not diminishing any of the food’s innate characteristics. “When one tastes a fresh dried Cold Fusion FoodState Vitamin C-rich Orange or Cranberry Concentrate right off the Refractance Window Dryer, one can enjoy the unmistakably tart yet subtle sweet taste of these fresh foods,” Craven explained in the same interview with WMUR NH Chronical. Traditional methods employ a rapid freeze-drying or concentrated heat-drying process. The Slo-Food Process differentiates itself by employing a specific spectral range of radiant infrared energy which is beamed into the whole food mixture. The energy is conducted only through water molecules so to encourage evaporation at temperatures averaging less than 149°F, a temperature far lower than the threshold employed by other more damaging processes, which heat to higher than 300°F. The Refractance Window Drying takes eight to fifteen hours and yields 98% of the food’s original composition in taste, color, and nourishment compared to conventional freeze drying, which averages a 50% loss. Refractance Window Drying has a significantly lower heat and energy demand than traditional methods while delivering a product with more nutritional content than conventional techniques do.
6. Tumble: Gentle tumbling transforms the product into a powder which can later be portioned out. For example, cabbage is used to deliver Vitamin K1, broccoli for folate, blueberries for antioxidants, and much more. These powders are then combined in varying combinations to create supplements from Women’s One Daily to Thyroid Strength. These formulations are designed by integrative medicine focused physicians that treat the body holistically through naturally occurring therapeutics in foods.
7. Press: Heat-free tableting locks in the nourishment from the former steps without loss of potency. Unlike their competitors, FoodState uses amber glass bottles for packaging. This prevents harmful UV radiation from altering the tablet’s potency. This increases the supplements’ shelf life, thereby reducing waste from discarding expired tablets, and wasting farmed fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Although more expensive than plastic, glass bottles are important for FoodState because they reduce plastic-related pollution and general food waste.

Inspiration

Craven said in the interview with WMUR NH Chronical that “The body recognizes the whole orange, not just the ascorbic acid that comes out that people like to call Vitamin C. The whole orange, everything that makes the orange special, the body can utilize that and assimilate that in a more unique way." FoodState’s mission is to “improve the lives of retailers, practitioners, consumers and our employees” by, what Alison Moore, Great People Finder at FoodState, calls, “closing the nutritional gap” created by our diets. In 1973, FoodState produced and marketed superior health supplements to health-conscious people. These products slowly grew attention and became trendy. Moore says that this is no longer a trend and has “outgrown its fad” to become a stable in healthy living. Today, FoodState is committed to manufacturing the highest quality product, the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, and the care of the environment and its associates by returning to the essence of food consumption intended by nature.

Overall impact

The impact of FoodState’s Slo-Food Process is the delivery of a quality whole food supplement previously absent from the market. It spotlights a new line of therapeutics — one which nature intended and holds abundant. The Slo-Food Process returns food intake to a more humanistic manner, one that highlights the nourishment diverse, fresh foods provide. In an era of modernization and distancing from the source of the food we consume, the Slo-Food Process delivers a tablet that captures the freshness of a farm and is more potent than other supplements on the market since it captures the entire essence of the food. Furthermore, FoodState as an organization promotes sustainable lifestyle choices like health wellness through thoughtful consumption of freshly prepared foods, not processed meals riddled with additives or consumption of artificial supplements. FoodState has won several awards as a result of their Slo-Food Technology’s effectiveness including the 2016 Eco-Excellence Award in Wellness, 2011 and 2013 Best of Supplements Award, and the 2014 Vity Award Winner in New Specialty: Herbal Supplement.

Business benefit

The Slo-Food process is vital for the business. It is scalable and replicable to other foods. Most recently, FoodState purchased another Refractance Window Dryer to increase its production capabilities due to a 50% increase in demand. Additionally, FoodState is solidifying partnerships with additional farms to meet its expanding foothold in the market. Furthermore, employees are revered and given fantastic wellness and lifestyle benefits. In addition, every employee is given 10 free bottles monthly so that FoodState practices what it preaches. This perpetuates a public health education on healthy eating and the benefits of fresh foods. To measure the state of their business, FoodState employs the Lives Improved Scoreboard where annual performance (while steadily profitable) is gauged on how many lives have been enriched through its products. Last year, they positively affected 1.78 million lives. Year to date, FoodState has grown by 46%, improving over 2.6 million lives.

Social and environmental benefit

Moore recently became aware of the deep impact FoodState was making societally by observing her son tell his father “That apple cannot be healthy; look how shiny it is! It’s not organic and probably processed.” FoodState is striving to bring about a social awareness about healthy eating and lifestyle choices. The Slo-Food Process bridges nutritional gaps in everyone’s diet while eliminating waste and improving health. Washington State University concluded that, compared to more commonly practiced drying methods, such as spray or freeze drying, the Slo-Food Process retains the highest levels of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. FoodState is revolutionizing the supplement and therapeutic industry by exploiting the naturally occurring nourishment in the foods we are surrounded by. FoodState has tracked the number of lives they have improved through their products to be over 20.9 million.

FoodState’s reverence for nourishing society cannot be stated without addressing their piety for environmental betterment. Their Slo-Food Technology most profoundly addresses the United Nation Sustainable Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. This is accomplished via zero food waste, unlike other whole food pill manufacturers. Furthermore, the pressing and packaging of the supplements prolongs the shelf life of the product thereby reducing the discarding of supplements by increasing their longevity. Furthermore, the Slo-Food Process, being vertically integrated, addresses the target of food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses. Lastly, the Slo-Food Technology meets Goal 9: Industry Innovation and Infrastructure by upgrading infrastructure and retrofitting industries to make them sustainable, which increases resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes. This is evident through radical innovation that captures 98% of food’s nourishment (versus an industry norm of 50%) and sensory qualities while eliminating heat and post-production waste.

Interview

Alison Moore, Great People Finder