About

History

Valensa International was founded in 1999 as U.S. Nutra, Inc. with its initial focus on the saw palmetto extract business. The company’s central Florida location and ownership of substantial saw palmetto berry procurement and processing facilities positioned it as the category leader within the world’s saw palmetto industry. It also began Valensa’s strong emphasis on applying quality control procedures more typical of the pharmaceutical industry than the botanical extract business in delivering the highest quality product to the market. Issues such as tracking raw material supply and chain of custody became a part of our approach to product manufacture.

In 2001, U.S. Nutra built an ultra-high pressure supercritical fluid extraction facility at our Eustis, Florida location. It was commissioned in March 2002. Today, this facility is the only supercritical fluid extraction facility in North America devoted exclusively to production of high-value nutraceutical ingredients for the dietary supplement, functional food and cosmeceutical industries. This facility positioned us as the only vertically integrated saw palmetto nutraceuticals producer in the world. In addition to saw palmetto, the company began to produce a broad range of botanical extracts via the supercritical CO₂ extraction process as well as a range of high value spice extracts.

In 2002, the company acquired all of the astaxanthin business assets of La Haye Laboratories, Inc. (Redmond, Washington, USA). La Haye had been one of the most successful early marketers of this highly potent antioxidant compound under the ZANTHIN® brand and had been successful in securing patents for its use in mitigating the effects macular degeneration and improving health in other areas.

In 2004, U.S. Nutra changed its name to Valensa International, which more clearly represented our position as an international supplier of nutraceutical ingredients and positioned us to broaden our range of offerings to the marketplace.

In the period from 2004 to today, Valensa International has developed and introduced a broadening range of high-value supercritical CO₂ extract botanical ingredients as well as a number of formulated products that feature high quality extracts in synergistic combinations to address consumer trends in the marketplace and innovative approaches to scientific studies. Valensa has accumulated extensive intellectual property and knowhow since 1999 and continues to build its patent portfolio.

Today, Valensa International’s offering to the market relies on our technology strengths in the areas of extraction, stabilization and delivery. We have continued to improve our quality control and quality assurance operations to maintain our position as a leader in the industry in this area. We have broadened our ability to work as a product development partner with leading companies in the nutraceuticals, functional food and human nutrition markets. And we have maintained our position as a leading advocate for quality awareness as it impacts the brands of our customers in all of these industries.