BI’s Vice President of Global Quality and Compliance Appointed as Interim Chair of AHPA Board of Trustees

RANCHO DOMINGUEZ, CALIFORNIA – Rupa Das, BI’s vice president of global quality and compliance, has been appointed as the interim chair for the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA)’s Board of Trustees. Das, a long-serving member of the board, will replace Graham Rigby, until March of 2019.

Founded in 1982, AHPA is a national trade association for the herbal products industry. The association represents growers, processors, manufacturers and marketers of herbs or herbal products internationally. The mission of AHPA is to promote the responsible commerce of herbal products and provide an educational resource for consumers.

Das has served as a member of AHPA’s Board of Trustees for over 11 years. BI was presented with the AHPA Herbal Industry Leadership Award in 2017 and recognized for outstanding business practices within the herbal products industry.

“AHPA appreciates Rupa’s willingness to take on the roles and responsibilities of board chair,” said AHPA President Michael McGuffin. “AHPA will benefit from Rupa’s strong leadership skills and extensive experience in the herbal products industry.”

For more information on AHPA, please visit www.ahpa.org.

About AHPA

AHPA is the national trade association and voice of the herbal products industry. AHPA is comprised of more than 400 member companies, consisting primarily of domestic and foreign companies doing business as growers, processors, manufacturers and marketers of herbs and herbal products as foods, dietary supplements, cosmetics, and non-prescription drugs, and also including companies that provide expert services to the herbal trade.

About BI

BI is a global full-service supplier of dietary supplement and functional food ingredients including plant-based powders and teas, standardized and ratio extracts, proteins, fibers, vitamin mineral premixes, custom blends, granular ingredients and other specialty processes. BI offers more than 200 ingredients that have been determined as safe for use in foods and beverages by the FDA or FEMA, the Flavors and Extracts Manufacturers Association. In 2002, BI pioneered a steam sterilization process, known as Protexx HP® Green Steam™, which is the industry’s only species-specific, organic sterilization method with a validated kill step. All BI ingredients undergo stringent quality analysis that includes heavy metals, pesticides, irradiation, and Identilok®, BI’s species identification process. The company has also developed a proprietary process, UltraHD®, which creates high-density herbal powders allowing for superior flow and less dusting during the manufacturing process. For more information, visit  www.botanicals.com.