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NZMP, the ingredient-solutions brand by global dairy company Fonterra, and Sun Genomics, one of the world's first, made-to-order probiotic companies, have established a partnership to undertake consumer studies to better understand the various health benefits of probiotics. 

Sun Genomics makes precision probiotics branded Floré. By having individuals test their gut microflora, Floré can customize a 'precision probiotic' supplement, formulated to address individual needs. Studies show that 90% of the body's gut microbiome is unique, indicating the need for personalization to result in effective changes. A credible supplier in the U.S. with three decades of experience researching this type of probiotics, NZMP was a natural choice to supply Sun Genomics with both of their clinically proven HN001™ & HN019™ strains necessary to create this personalized probiotic for consumers. Fonterra discovered and commercialized these strains over 20 years ago and Sun Genomics has been using both HN001™ & HN019™ strains for several years. After careful assessment of market opportunities, both parties recently recognized the benefit of working together to better understand how these super strains could target specific consumer health issues, especially with the increased concerns around immunity due to Covid-19.

The relationship began in 2018 while NZMP was at Indie Bio, one of the world's largest biotech accelerators in San Francisco, recognizing Sun Genomics as a high potential start-up player in the health & wellness space. NZMP was impressed by their unique and customizable approach to consumers' health via a personalized supplement. This kind of customized product allows them to deliver a strong supplementation program and maximize the delivery of health benefits. Additionally, the two companies found Sun Genomics' work to validate their products through consumer lifestyle studies and NZMP's approach to ingredient testing through human clinical studies to be complementary.

The successful relationship between the two companies has led to more in-depth consumer research to make each companies' products even more valuable to business customers and end consumers.

"Sun Genomics is both a customer and business partner. We chose Sun Genomics because we were impressed by their consumer-centric approach, which closely aligns with our desire to intimately understand the consumer," explains Chris Ireland, US Probiotics business manager, Active Lifestyle, NZMP. "Working with Sun Genomics to tap into their consumer base is an innovative way to directly validate our probiotics effectiveness, and build a deeper understanding of what consumers truly need. This novel approach to substantiating our strains is the perfect complement to our clinical research. These consumer studies will bridge the gap between meticulously designed scientific studies and the day-to-day realities of consumer life, allowing us to marry the strengths of consumer and clinical research when positioning our probiotics in the market. This work also opens up opportunities to explore potential new formulations together, which reflects our broader efforts in addressing health benefits across physical, mental and inside-out wellness. Our focus on probiotics reflects the expansion of our classic health & wellness portfolio through our specialty ingredients."

The consumer studies include testing HN001™/HN019™ strains with Floré customers through a Fonterra-sponsored consumer project to determine if there are any significant improvements in health and mental wellness. The results gathered in this consumer testing will provide complementary evidence to existing clinical trials on HN001™ and HN019™, by providing evidence that NZMP probiotics' benefits can also be seen outside of clinical settings and can withstand being subjected to the rigors of normal consumer lifestyles.

"We chose to work with NZMP not only because of the quality of their probiotic strains, but also because of their ability to provide clinical data and their excitement to partner and explore new spaces with us," says Neal Gidvani, the COO of Sun Genomics. "We are expecting results from some of our initial studies later this year and look forward to sharing the results with the NZMP team."

About NZMP

NZMP is the business-to-business dairy ingredients brand of Fonterra. Trusted globally, NZMP ingredients are sold in more than 100 countries and can be found at the heart of some of the world's most famous food and nutrition brands. NZMP has one of the broadest ranges of ingredients in the dairy industry, providing hundreds of solutions to meet the needs of customers every day. Backed by Fonterra's New Zealand grass-fed farming heritage and expertise, world-class processing and leading quality standards, NZMP ingredients deliver real market advantage, trusted for their high performance and exceptional quality. Learn more at www.nzmp.com/probiotics.

About Fonterra USA

Fonterra USA is part of the global dairy nutrition giant based in Auckland, New Zealand. Owned by 10,000 farmers, Fonterra is the world's leading dairy exporter– providing high-quality dairy solutions with differentiated, innovative ingredients. Headquartered in Chicago, they are the regional home of NZMP, Anchor Dairy US consumer brands and Anchor Dairy Food professionals. With roots firmly planted in New Zealand's rich land, Fonterra stands for leaving things better than how they found them, and is committed to environmental sustainability, healthy communities and high-quality nutrition. Learn more at www.fonterra.com/us.

About Sun Genomics

Sun Genomics is a first-of-its-kind, custom probiotics startup with the mission to improve gut health through personalized science. The company's first consumer product, Floré, allows consumers to analyze the microflora of their stool through a gut health test and uses the results to craft a custom probiotic. Through DNA sequencing, Floré formulates the right gut health supplement combination for each customer's specific needs and delivers it directly to their door. Sun Genomics has created the first feedback loop to allow customers to see their probiotics show up on their report, through a retest, and allows customers to improve their microflora over time. For more information, visit www.flore.com or follow on Twitter: @SunGenomics.