Imbibe now offers organic flavors, ingredients

According to Niles, Ill.-based Imbibe Inc., organic food and beverage sales surpassed $45 billion in 2015, a 72 percent increase in less than a decade. For brand owners that position their brand as "natural" or "better-for-you," organic certification is becoming increasingly important to consumers. To help its private brand customers in this particular area, Imbibe now offers organic flavors and strategic ingredient systems as part of its comprehensive beverage development portfolio.

For a finished product to obtain the USDA organic seal, the product must contain at least 95 percent organic-certified ingredients by weight, and the remaining 5 percent of the ingredients must be organic-compliant or fall within the allowable synthetic ingredients listed by USDA's National Organic Program, Imbibe said. Certain ingredients are especially difficult to obtain from organic sources, so Imbibe’s wide range of organic-certified ingredients allows for more flexibility during product development and the sourcing of the other 5 percent of the product content. Imbibe allows brand owners to fully customize their organic ingredients as well, which is critical for product differentiation.

In addition to organic beverages, Imbibe said it develops products with allergen-free, vegan, Halal, kosher, and Non-GMO Project Verified certifications.