About Us

A png of the Annatto Plant surrounded by the bright red supplements it is used to create

American River Nutrition

American River Nutrition (ARN) was founded in 1998 by Dr. Barrie Tan and is located in Hadley, Massachusetts. ARN’s mission is to focus on the scientific advancement of the health benefits of Bixa orellana, a tropically grown plant commonly known as annatto. To this day, Dr. Tan continues to propel ARN forward and has amassed substantial discoveries in line with this mission. ARN’s offerings include multiple products derived from or formulated with annatto.

A png of the Annatto Plant surrounded by the bright red supplements it is used to create

American River Nutrition

American River Nutrition (ARN) was founded in 1998 by Dr. Barrie Tan and is located in Hadley, Massachusetts. ARN’s mission is to focus on the scientific advancement of the health benefits of Bixa orellana, a tropically grown plant commonly known as annatto. To this day, Dr. Tan continues to propel ARN forward and has amassed substantial discoveries in line with this mission. ARN’s offerings include multiple products derived from or formulated with annatto.

An Icon in white that is used to show the section about the facility itself

Facility

American River Nutrition strives to provide the purest form of annatto-derived ingredients from our 24,000 square foot facility in Hadley, Massachusetts, using a range of proprietary processes and technologies. We develop and manufacture high-quality ingredients at our headquarters that features an in-house lab for both quality control and research & development.

Green Quotation Marks

“It’s simple, my values align with American River Nutrition. We build robust quality practices into everything we do, we never compromise on quality. Period.”

John Foley

Director of Technical Services and Quality

An icon depicting quality

Quality

We never compromise on quality. Our state-of-the-art facility is GMP compliant and we focus our full attention on following standard operating procedures. This way, we can provide you with the highest quality products while ensuring compliance. Quality control is built into everything we do.

Green Quotation Marks

“Nearly two decades into my journey with American River Nutrition, two things are clear to me. First, robust science is non-negotiable. Second, challenges are fleeting when contrasted against the remarkable outcomes we see day after day.”

Image of a woman named, Anne Trias
Image of a woman named, Anne Trias

Anne Trias M.S.

Product Director

A photograph of a man named, Dr. Barrie Tan

Innovation is in our DNA

Our founder Dr. Barrie Tan, first and foremost a scientist with a Ph. D. in Chemistry/ Biochemistry, was formerly an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst (Chemistry, Food Science & Nutrition). His mission at American River Nutrition is to deliver the highest quality nutritional products based on sound scientific research. Today, his research focuses on lipid-soluble nutrients that have the potential to slow chronic conditions.

For the last 35 years, Barrie has immersed himself in the world of Vitamin E and is considered one of the world’s foremost experts, credited with commercializing tocotrienol in 3 major natural sources – palm, rice and annatto. His first discoveries were in palm & rice, but due to their high levels of tocopherol, they also lacked potency. Barrie continued his research and was soon rewarded when he found the best-in-class tocotrienol in the annatto plant!

Barrie’s relationship with annatto has spanned 20 years and multiple clinical trials across chronic diseases.

Innovation is in our DNA

Our founder Dr. Barrie Tan, first and foremost a scientist with a Ph. D. in Chemistry/ Biochemistry, was formerly an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst (Chemistry, Food Science & Nutrition). His mission at American River Nutrition is to deliver the highest quality nutritional products based on sound scientific research. Today, his research focuses on lipid-soluble nutrients that have to potential to slow chronic conditions.

For the last 35 years, Barrie has immersed himself in the world of Vitamin E and is considered one of the world’s foremost experts, credited with commercializing tocotrienol in 3 major natural sources – palm, rice and annatto. His first discoveries were in palm and rice, but due to their high levels of tocopherol, they also lacked potency. Barrie continued his research and was soon rewarded when he found the best-in-class tocotrienol in the annatto plant!

Barrie’s relationship with annatto has spanned 20 years and multiple clinical trials across chronic diseases.

Green Quotation Marks

“Discovering the health benefits of annatto was serendipitous, the mission to use American River Nutrition as a vehicle for good is no accident!”

Picture of a man named, Dr. Barrie Tan in a black and white photograph
Picture of a man named, Dr. Barrie Tan in a black and white photograph

Dr. Barrie Tan. Ph.D.

Founder and Chief Scientific Officer

Learn More About Our Products