Jul

How to Manufacture Prenatal Vitamin Gummies at Scale

As societies become more health-conscious, demand for more wellness products increases. Among these product categories, prenatal vitamin gummies and supplements are one of the fastest-growing verticals. Expecting mothers want to ensure a safe and healthy pregnancy with lower risks of complications.

Statistics indicate that the hundred-million-dollar market for prenatal vitamins will continue to skyrocket through the 2020s. This presents an incredible opportunity for pharmaceutical manufacturers to capitalize on the trend while providing excellent gummy products to this passionate base of consumers.

To meet tidal wave-sized demand for these products, production facilities need to be outfitted with the right equipment to create new gummy vitamins in a scalable fashion.

What Makes Prenatal Vitamins a Unique Product Category?

While most vitamins and supplements may contain one or a small handful of active ingredients, prenatal vitamins are packed with a vast combination of micronutrients. This requires far more precision in formulating these products to ensure that the ratios are balanced and the vitamin gummy is safe to consume.

As stated by the American Pregnancy Association, a wide number of various active ingredients are often used in prenatal vitamins such as:

Vitamins A, B complex, C, D, and E
Calcium, Iron, and Zinc
Iodine
Magnesium

These ingredients are added during the second step of the first phase in the gummy manufacturing process: Cooking. Once the base ingredients have been preheated in a kettle and transferred to a storage tank, the actives are added in with other elements like colors, flavoring, and citric acid.

Once the Cooking Phase as ended, the gummies are transferred into a hopper where they are then deposited into a mold. Once they pass through the chilling tunnel, they can be coated as an optional step.

Lastly, quality control is immensely important in ensuring the product is safe for distribution and consumption. Gummies can become susceptible to microbial growth if their water activity (aW) levels are too high. Using a handheld water activity meter, you can quickly measure the aW levels and determine if there are any compromised units or batches.

Necessary Equipment for Manufacturing Prenatal Gummies

Base Ingredients and Actives

Gummies require either a gelatin base or plant-derived alternative. This will provide the traditional chewy consistency associated with these products. Other essentials will include a sweetener, flavoring agent, citric acid for pH balancing, and the active ingredients of your choice.

If you need to source base ingredients to start your gummy production, ask your equipment manufacturer if they can recommend a supplier for you. This will cut down on time searching for the right solution.

Gummy Manufacturing Equipment

A complete setup for manufacturing gummies will include the preheating kettle, storage tank, chilling tunnel, and a depositor. Look for a solution that combines all of these necessary elements into a single, interconnected machine that will simplify your operations for you.

Coating Equipment

Adding a powder or sugar coating to your gummies is completely optional. However, this will require a separate piece of machinery to accomplish. If you wish to add coatings to your products, ask your equipment manufacturer if they also offer one. This will ensure that both machines are completely compatible with one another for greater consistency.

Water Activity Meter

The aW meter can identify any water activity issues within minutes. This will reduce the risk of contaminated or defective products from reaching shelves.

Packaging Machinery and Materials

Depending on your packaging preferences, there are a number of options you can use for gummy vitamin products. However, plastic bottles are the most common and preferred method in the industry.

If you want to start bottling your gummies, you will need:

Plastic bottles
A bottle unscrambling machine
A capping machine
An induction sealer

You can also purchase a labeling machine if you will be applying the labels to the containers as part of your regular process. A pharmaceutical-grade labeling machine will help create clear, crisp labels for your products that can accurately communicate all of the necessary information to consumers.

Start Manufacturing Prenatal Vitamin Gummies

At Gummy Tech, a division of CapPlus Technologies, we strive to provide the gummy vitamin industry with the most innovative manufacturing solutions possible based on real feedback from the production facilities we work with. To learn more about the right gummy equipment for your needs, contact us today.