Tahitian Noni

Tahitian Noni International, Inc. / Morinda Holdings, Inc.
legal form	Inc. ( GmbH )
founding	1996
Seat	United States , Provo , Utah
management	Kerry Asay
Number of employees	1500
sales	US $ 500 million (as of 2004)
Branch	Fruit juices , network marketing
Website	tni.com/germany

Products from Tahitian Noni

Tahitian Noni International, Inc. ( TNI ) is a US subsidiary of Morinda Holdings, Inc. , headquartered in Provo , Utah ( USA ). Since it was founded in 1995 by the two food scientists John Wadsworth and Steven Story, together with three partners, TNI has been run as a private company by the five owners. The company launched the world's first product made from the noni fruit, the Tahitian Noni Juice, and claims to be the market leader in the field of noni products today.

The products

Tahitian Noni International is a producer and marketer of products based on Noni ( bot. Morinda citrifolia L. ) from Tahiti and its neighboring islands.

The company started selling noni juice (Tahitian Noni Juice) in the United States in 1996. In 2003, TNI received Novel Food approval (approval for the juice as a “novel food”) from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for this juice and thus the approval to sell the juice in the EU. Preceded an extensive investigation went by the Scientific Committee on Food of the European Union ( Scientific Committee on Food , SCF), which confirmed the juice the safety for human consumption. The approval only applies to the noni juice obtained from the fruit. Other components of the Noni, such as their leaves, are not included in this approval. The company has already applied to the European Commission for further components of the noni for approval. These include noni leaves, which are processed into noni tea and which TNI is already selling in this form in Switzerland and Norway. With the EFSA's public announcement on “Safety of Noni Leaves for Tea” on August 11, 2008, these are now also approved for use as tea in the EU.

For personal care products, noni seed oil and noni leaf juice concentrate are used in particular.

In addition to noni juice, the company's current product range also includes cosmetics, a weight management system, food supplements, beverages and feed supplements for animals.

The distribution

The company is based in network marketing and sells its products primarily through independent sales partners. They buy the products from the company at wholesale prices and resell the products at the retail price. The product is the focus of the business and should enable the establishment of a long-term seller-customer relationship. This is another reason why, according to the company, ideally every sales partner should also be a consumer of the products, since their own experience and satisfaction with the products are the most convincing argument. It is open to sales partners to interest customers not only in the products but also in the business and thus develop new sales partners or recommenders from pure buyers. All sales partners generate their earnings not only from the margin between purchase and sales price, but also from their entire organization consisting of end consumers and business partners using a distribution key regulated by a marketing plan.

Due to the exponential growth opportunities of such a marketing concept, exponential income developments are accordingly also possible.

End customer business

Since many of the company's customers originally registered as sales partners were primarily consumers and not necessarily interested in building a business, TNI introduced the end customer program at the end of 2006. In this way, interested parties can also purchase the products directly from the company without personal contact with one of the sales partners. End customers order directly from the company and receive the goods directly from the company.

TNI grants a satisfaction and money-back guarantee on its products for both sales partners and end customers. This can be used within the first 60 days after purchasing the product without giving reasons.

TNI operates its own shops (for example in Munich) and online shops.

Country representatives

Tahitian Noni International is represented in 30 countries, including the USA (Provo), Germany ( Munich , Cologne ), Austria ( Vienna ), Switzerland ( Thalwil ), Ukraine ( Kiev ), Hungary ( Budapest ), Croatia ( Zagreb ), England ( London ), Norway ( Oslo ), Sweden ( Stockholm ), Russia ( Moscow ), Japan ( Fukuoka , Tokyo ), China ( Shanghai ).

Production facilities

The company owns and operates production facilities in Tahiti, USA, Japan, China and Germany.

Restaurants

With its own restaurants "Tahitian Noni Café" and "Motu's Tahitian Noni Island Grill", which offer Pacific Cuisine, the company is represented in the USA, Brazil , Taiwan and Japan .

Association memberships

Tahitian Noni International is a member of various direct sales associations, such as Unternehmensverband Direktvertrieb e. V. (UVDV) in Germany, the Federation of European Direct Selling Associations (FEDSA) in Europe and the American Direct Selling Association (DSA).

criticism

In the past, the company has often come under fire because sales partners have made health-related statements, particularly in connection with the sale of Tahitian Noni Juices, which are not legally permissible. This procedure is not supported by the company either, is prohibited according to the company's guideline manual and may be subject to disciplinary action. Quoting from the Policy Handbook: “TNI expressly forbids distributors from making therapeutic or medical claims about a Tahitian Noni product. TNI provides approved fonts for the sale or presentation of their products. Any claim about medical cures and treatments or any kind of prescription is strictly prohibited. ... "

Sales partners who violate the company's guidelines will be warned by the company's guidelines department and may be released from their sales rights.

Negative headlines

Germany / Austria until 2005

In 2005, Tahitian Noni International hit the headlines, with two published studies showing that noni juice is the cause of much liver damage in several patients. The European Food Safety Authority or its Scientific Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) then examined whether a reassessment of noni juice was necessary. In its opinion of September 1, 2006, the panel came to the conclusion that there was no convincing evidence of a connection between the occurrence of acute liver inflammation in the cases described and the consumption of noni juice. The evaluation of the individual cases seemed to indicate that the occurrence of acute liver inflammation was due to the ingestion of other substances (e.g. drugs, herbal drugs, alcohol). The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) endorsed this assessment and underlined EFSA's position in a version of its information (No. 045/2006) dated March 6, 2006 updated on September 28, 2006.

Spain until 2008

In January 2008, the Agencia Española de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición (AESAN) and the Consejería de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía warned against consuming bottles of Tahitian Noni Juice that were not labeled in conformity with the EU, as long as the Ministry of Health was on toxicological findings on a death Spain waiting for noni juice consumption. It turned out that two bottles confiscated from the dead man and examined by the Instituto Nacional de Toxicología contained significant amounts of cocaine. Samples taken from the deceased and examined also showed traces of cocaine. How the man got the manipulated bottles is the subject of police investigations in Spain. It could be proven that he had not obtained the bottles through official channels. The Spanish authorities warned the population to only obtain the juice through the company's official distribution channels.

Web links

• Hallados restos de coca en el zumo de noni que causó una muerte. In: El País . February 21, 2008. (Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Tahitian Noni lays off 130 workers. ( Memento from March 4, 2009 in the web archive archive.today ) In: Daily Herald. May 25, 2006. (English)
2. ↑ Noni's Influence Grows. ( Memento of March 7, 2008 in the web archive archive.today ) In: Daily Herald. April 8, 2005. (English)
3. ↑ European Commission 2003, Commission decision of June 5, 2003 authorizing the placing on the market of “Noni juice” (juice made from the fruit of the Morinda citrifolia L. ) species as a novel food within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No. 258/97 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 2003/426 / EC), Official Journal of the European Communities L 144/12, June 12, 2003 (PDF)
4. ↑ EFSA confirms the safety of noni leaves for tea , August 11, 2008 at efsa.eu.int
5. ↑ Miracle Potion from Polynesia
6. ↑ Tahitian Noni International, Guideline Manual & Compensation Plan, topic “Advertising for Tahitian Noni Products” / “Statements about the Product”, as of 2008.
7. ↑ G. Millonig, S. Stadlmann, W. Vogel: Herbal hepatotoxicity: acute hepatitis caused by a Noni preparation (Morinda citrifolia). In: European Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology. 17, 2005, pp. 445-447.
8. Jump up ↑ V. Stadlbauer, P. Fickert, C. Lackner, J. Schmerlaib, P. Krisper, M. Trauner, RE Stauber: Hepatotoxicity of NONI juice: Report of two cases. In: World Journal of Gastroenterology. 11, 2005, pp. 4758-4760.
9. ^ Opinion of the Scientific Panel on Dietetic products, nutrition and allergies [NDA related to the safety of noni juice (juice of the fruits of Morinda citrifolia)], September 1, 2006:
10. ↑ Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), updated version of Information No. 045/2006 of March 6, 2006 (PDF)
11. ↑ AESAN, Warning to the Spanish population, January 30th, 2008 ( Memento of the original of May 13th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on aesan.msc.e 
12. ↑ Instituto Nacional de Toxicología, confirmation of cocaine discovery in the bottle in question, February 20, 2008 , reporting on ABC.
13. ↑ AESAN, admonition to pay attention to correctly labeled noni juice bottles, February 22, 2008 ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.