UFA provides the Upcycled Certified seal, which the organization bills it as the world’s first certification of its sort. The goals in the words of the organization, “[A]re to create a certification that sets a bar for the industry, pioneer a certification mark for consumers to identify upcycled products from their packaging, and create a pipeline for certified upcycled ingredients that brands can use to create new and innovative products while reducing food waste.”
Certification entering second iteration
The first version of the certification was agreed upon in January 2021 after feedback from stakeholders. A comment period on the second iteration of the standard closed on April 1, 2022. That version of the certification will now go through a series of public meetings where comments will be discussed and changes made where needed.
UFA and its certification program was named a finalist for NutraIngredients-USA’s Industry Initiative of the Year in 2020. MSP said that the consumer research organization SPINS identified upcycling as one of the leading trends at this year’s Natural Products Expo West trade show.
MSP said Brands adhering to UFA standards help reduce food waste by creating new, high-quality products from the leftovers of the modern food processing system. MSP upcycles resistant starch from the potato processing industry into its branded, patented ingredient.
"Public health research continues to validate resistant starch as a valuable nutrient deficient in modern diets," said Jason Leibert, Chief Growth Officer at MSP. "We're about mitigating food waste, rescuing a nutrient [resistant starch] and using it to its highest value by feeding the microbiome."
LDL cholesterol, insulin resistance benefits
MSP, which is based in Manitoba, has been working with the ingredient since 2004 and launched it as a standalone dietary supplement called MSPrebiotic a number of years ago. In 2020, the company inaugurated the Solnul brand for its B2B offering.
The company released the results of a study on the ingredient that was published in the journal BMC Nutrition. It found that for ‘responders,’ supplementation with Solnul lowered LDL cholesterol levels and had a beneficial effect on the microbiome makeup. Why some subjects responded in this way while others did not is still to be determined.
Another earlier study found insulin resistance benefits for the ingredient.