A reference point in the food supplements market, for consumers and players. Over the years, the identity of the group, founded in 1990 as an association within Confindustria and in 2016 established under the name of Integratori Italia, has been consolidated. Nowadays Integratori Italia is part of Unione Italiana Food, the trade association belonging to Confindustria, that represents the food supplement industry in Italy.
“Together with an appropriate lifestyle, food supplements are both an important tool for preserving people’s health and a potential new approach to contain the costs in managing chronic ageing-related diseases of the population, and therefore a new opportunity for the healthcare system – says Alessandro Golinelli, the President of Integratori Italia – Several researches show the potential savings that the European and national healthcare system could achieve through the appropriate use of some supplements by specific target populations, risk of contracting major chronic diseases with high incidence. The challenge of the future is to recognize some supplements as primary prevention tools.”
30 important years, during which the association has been enriched by the main market players. Moreover, the objectives for which the group was created have been consolidated: to contribute to the growth of knowledge, the correct use and the quality of the food supplement, to encourage increasingly aware consumer choices and promote the development of market in Italy.
In the past decades, Integratori Italia, constantly tried to respond to information needs through the creation of tools developed in collaboration with highly qualified experts, among which the 2016 Scientific Review on Food Supplements, followed by second edition in 2019, the Integratoriebenessere.it website, and the Facebook page Integratori e Benessere active since 2016, scientific and sociological researches.
Besides all that, taking into account the highly dynamic market, in 2018 Integratori Italia elaborated a Code of Conduct, a sort of “compass” of conduct consistent with the association’s commitment to communicate the qualities and benefits of food supplements in a fair and balanced way, in order to promote the right competition on the market and conscious and responsible consumer choices. Furthermore, in 2019, the Quality Guidelines that cover the entire production cycle and quality control of the supplement: from the purchase of the materials through the development, production, packaging, storage until distribution or release of the finished product.
The vocation for correct information has been strengthened over the years with a continuous partnership of Unione Nazionale Consumatori. Indeed, for years, has been active a collaboration aimed to consolidating correct information regarding food supplements: in 2013 this common objective led to the creation of the APP Integratori Alimentari, that can still be downloaded both from the UNC website and from the main APP stores; in 2018 the communication campaigns started on the correct use of supplements, on the promotion of correct information against fake news (2019) and on the understanding of some specific categories of substances, such as Vitamin D or the supplements at different stages of life (2020 campaign, still ongoing).
