The new range, Little Étoile Nutrition, was launched first in Australia, and recently exported to Singapore.
This follows the debut of Little Étoile Organic’s baby food pouches in 2018 in Australia.
Baby formula
The idea for Little Étoile Nutrition came on the back of requests from distributors and retailers for a premium formula range.
“It’s hard in this area to come up with something really new as safety is of utmost importance and it takes a long time to establish safety on new ingredients,” said Francis Tang, regional sales lead (Asia) at Max Biocare.
Little Étoile Nutrition’s infant and toddler formulas contain ingredients such as lactoferrin and Wellmune betaglucan that are clinically tested for safety and efficacy. These ingredients have been shown to promote immunity and reduce frequency of common cold and upper respiratory tract infections.
The formulas are made from 100% Australian grass-fed cow’s milk, without added sugar and are compliant with Codex regulations.
On top of regular tests, the company commits to additional testing of 3-MCPD and GE (expressed as glycidol), which has been expressed as a concern, as well as nutritional claims on every batch.
To provide more assurance, there is also a unique QR code on the bottom of each can to give consumers the ability to confirm each can’s origin.
In Singapore, the formulas can be bought on Little Étoile website, and supermarkets including Little Farms and Hao Excellente.
Baby food
Little Étoile Organic is the only baby food pouch on the market which claims testing on 15 most common allergens.
“Little Étoile was born because we saw that no brand in the market makes any clear claim about controlling allergens and heavy metals. We considered that as an opportunity as we believe that some parents would be willing to pay for tasty food guaranteed to be safe,” Tang said.
“These additional controls are costly, time consuming, troublesome and we encounter a lot of resistance, it adds a long testing time before we can release each batch. However maybe because of this, we got accepted into different markets very fast.”
Little Étoile Organic products are now available in Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia as well as the online market in China.
It is now eyeing exports to Malaysia and the Philippines.
Although Tang pointed out the COVID-19 pandemic may affect its export plans: “It is a bit difficult at the moment with expanding to new markets as COVID-19 surged however we are confident that we are building a strong foundation needed for further expansion once the pandemic is under control.”
Supplement business
Over at its supplement business, Max Biocare is expanding the distribution of its Maxucosa Supplement in South East Asia. Marketed to boost immune system, it contains 500mg of Maritech Fucoidan, a proprietary fucoidan extract that has been scientifically validated and clinically proven through extensive studies. It is the only organic fucoidan certified by the ACO (Australian Certified Organic).
In addition, it has the only certified organic fucoidan ingredient that is FDA-notified GRAS status, non-GMO and halal certified.
This supplement is sold in Australia and Vietnam and recently launched in Singapore.
