Blog, Summary15 Steve Hoffman Blog, Summary15 Steve Hoffman

New Cutting-Edge Software Tool for Nutritional & Dietary Supplement Brands Streamlines Marketing Content Review, Reduces Regulatory Risk

BOULDER, Colo. (July 6, 2023) – More often than not, marketers of nutritional products, dietary supplements and functional foods are faced with multiple hurdles and confusing regulations about what they can say about their products. Now, an innovative, easy-to-use software program can help brands solve this problem, reduce costs and reduce hassle with the click of a button.

Developed by regulatory expert and nutritional products industry veteran Asa Waldstein, Apex Compliance™ finds risky terms and phrases and suggests lower-risk alternatives on websites, YouTube videos and in uploaded content. Apex Compliance™ is a user-friendly software tool designed for brands, marketing agencies, law firms, consultants, investors and banks that serve the dietary supplement, conventional and functional food and cannabis industries.

Apex Compliance™ focuses on three areas of regulatory risk, including websites, YouTube videos and content review before publishing. It provides a detailed report showing the exact URL location of each keyword, the paragraph it is used in, the risk rating, lower-risk alternatives and notes. This provides a line-by-line playbook on how to reduce website and YouTube regulatory risk. Apex Compliance™ also reviews uploaded blogs and social content before posting, and it streamlines the process by flagging keywords and simplifies swapping high-risk phrases for lower-risk alternatives.

Apex Compliance™ is keyword-based and allows the user to easily add their keywords, risk rating, lower-risk alternative words and notes to help with future regulatory reviews. The application enables users to compile searchable keyword lists such as Top Sustainability Lawsuit Phrases or Common FDA/FTC Trigger Words. Apex Compliance™ comes preloaded with 50 common phrases in warning letters and plaintiff lawsuits, such as lowers cholesterol, anxiety, depression and pain. Each phrase has a risk rating and, when applicable, possible lower-risk alternative language is provided.

“Regulatory reviews that used to take hours can now be conducted in seconds,” said Apex Compliance founder Asa Waldstein. “Apex Compliance was developed as a tool for my consulting company, Supplement Advisory Group, and it became so useful industry colleagues started asking to use it. Apex Compliance saves time when reviewing marketing content and is a teaching tool that helps build in-house regulatory expertise.”

“Apex Compliance is truly a game-changing technology to help you keep pace in a challenging and ever-changing regulatory world. It’s affordable and perfect, especially for small and medium-sized startups that can’t afford a full regulatory department,” said Tim Gerke, president of leading supplement maker Allergy Research Group, based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Apex Compliance™ is a monthly subscription service that offers steep discounts for one-year commitments. Learn more, sign up or schedule a free demo here.

For inquiries, contact support@ApexComplianceProgram.com.

About Supplement Advisory Group
Apex Compliance™ is a patent-pending software application that is a subsidiary of Supplement Advisory Group, a consulting company founded in Boulder County, Colorado, in 2020 by industry veteran Asa Waldstein. Supplement Advisory Group takes a preventative approach to regulatory risk and specializes in practical regulatory support for dietary supplement marketers. The Group focuses on finding marketing risks and providing practical lower-risk solutions on the web, social media and product labels. This includes compliant marketing strategy review and claims risk analysis. Learn more about Supplement Advisory Group’s services here.

For consulting and speaking inquiries, contact Assistant@AsaWaldstein.com.

About Asa Waldstein
Asa Waldstein is a Certified Clinical Herbalist and a 20-year dietary supplement executive who is principal of the consulting company Supplement Advisory Group, a boutique group focusing on marketing risk analysis and practical marketing solutions for the web and social media. He writes the weekly Warning Letter Wednesday post, exploring interesting enforcement trends and marketing best practices. He chairs the American Herbal Products Association's (AHPA) Cannabis Committee and sits on the Naturally Boulder board of directors. 

Follow Asa Waldstein on LinkedIn, Twitter and Warning Letter Wednesday blog.

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Blog, Summary15 Steve Hoffman Blog, Summary15 Steve Hoffman

Compass Coffee Talk Podcast to Feature Ibraheem Basir, Founder & CEO of A Dozen Cousins

Compass Coffee Talk™, a popular live webinar series featuring conversations with business leaders in the natural, organic and sustainable products industry, welcomes Ibraheem Basir, founder & CEO of A Dozen Cousins, a top Black-owned natural food brand.

What: Compass Coffee Talk™
When: Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 8:30 am PT; 9:30 am MT; 10:30 am CT; 11:30 am ET
Presented by: Compass Natural, Connecting Media and Markets in Natural and Organic Products
Sponsored by: Presence Marketing, Naturally Boulder, Naturally New York and Naturally San Diego
Register: Register for Free Here

BOULDER, CO (June 15, 2023) —Ibraheem Basir, founder and CEO of A Dozen Cousins, a natural food brand making beans, rice, sauces and more, will appear on July 19, 2023, on the popular Compass Coffee Talk™ podcast, which features lively conversations with natural products industry leaders, innovators and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses to succeed in the market.

A Dozen Cousins, whose offerings hark back to the traditional Creole, Caribbean and Latin American dishes that Basir enjoyed in his childhood in the culinary melting pot of Brooklyn, N.Y., is named after Basir’s daughter and her 11 cousins.

Ibraheem Basir of A Dozen Cousins

Basir grew up in a large family where food was at the center of all celebrations and gatherings. After observing a gap in the market for authentic, nutritious cultural foods, Basir launched A Dozen Cousins to provide the comforting, flavorful recipes he grew up eating with his family. The brand’s flagship beans have become the No. 1 item in their category on Amazon and are sold nationwide at retailers including Whole Foods, Sprouts and Target, among others. 

Hosted by natural and organic products industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steven Hoffman, Compass Coffee Talk is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading public relations, branding and business development agency serving the natural, organic, eco-friendly and hemp products industries. Capsalis and Hoffman will interview Basir to learn more about his and his company’s story.

Helping the Natural Foods Industry Evolve
Basir is a passionate advocate for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the consumer packaged goods industry and seeks to help the natural foods space evolve and grow to reflect the diversity of the United States. He is a founding board member of Project Potluck, a nonprofit that provides a range of mentorship and education programming in support of its mission to help people of color build successful companies and careers in the CPG industry.

Basir holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the university’s Wharton School of Business. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.

Project Potluck
While breaking into the natural and organic products industry isn't easy for anyone, Black, Indigenous and other people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds can find it especially challenging to attract investors, find the right co-packers, refine recipes and garner placement on retail shelves. Enter Project Potluck, established by Ibraheem Basir, CPG veteran and founder and CEO of A Dozen Cousins, a leading Black-owned natural food brand, to provide the support that minority entrepreneurs in the natural products space need to succeed. In March 2022, Project Potluck won New Hope Network’s inaugural Justice Award for its efforts to promote justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in the natural and organic products industry. Read about the organization in Forbes magazine.

Register for Compass Coffee Talk with Ibraheem Basir
Register here for free to participate in the upcoming Compass Coffee Talk, Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 11:30 am – Noon ET.

About Compass Coffee Talk
Take a 30-minute virtual coffee break with Compass Coffee Talk™. Hosted by natural industry veterans Bill Capsalis and Steve Hoffman, Coffee Talk features lively interactive conversations with industry leaders and experts designed to help guide entrepreneurs and businesses of any size succeed in the market for natural, organic, regenerative, hemp-derived and other eco-friendly products.

Compass Coffee Talk™ is produced by Compass Natural Marketing, a leading PR, branding and business development agency serving the natural and organic products industry.

Previous Episodes of Compass Coffee Talk
View the entire library of Compass Coffee Talk episodes on YouTube. Co-hosted by natural products industry veterans Steven Hoffman and Bill Capsalis, Compass Coffee Talk has featured notable professionals such as Jared Polis, governor of Colorado; Steve Hughes, co-founder of Sunrise Strategic Partners; John Mackey, CEO and co-founder, Whole Foods Market; Miyoko Schinner, CEO and founder, Miyoko’s Kitchen; John Foraker, CEO of Once Upon a Farm; Emerald-Jane Hunter, founder of the MyWhy Agency; Heather Terry, CEO of GoodSAM; Milton Zimmerman, executive vice president, Presence Marketing; Jennifer Maxwell, founder and CEO of JAMBAR®, and more.

Contact
Steven Hoffman, Compass Natural, steve@compassnaturalmarketing.com

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