Natural Wonders : 480 Businesses Talk Up the Safety, Wholesomeness of Products

Eight years ago, Mia Rose Palencar entered the health-product business looking for an untouched market.

She believes that she has found that market in the production and sales of an all-natural air freshener.

Today Palencar is the head of a small Newport Beach business that makes and distributes Air Therapy, a non-aerosol air freshener made out of citrus extracts.

“It’s good for people and the environment, and it still makes me a lot of money,” Palencar said. “As far as I know, there is no other natural air freshener on the market.”

Palencar, who began her business out of her Newport Beach home and distributes her product throughout the country, sprayed some of the orange-scented freshener and told passers-by at the Anaheim Convention Center: “It’s safe around babies, it’s safe around animals and it’s safe around plants.”

Promoting and Selling

Palencar represented one of the 480 businesses promoting and selling their products at Natural Foods Expo ’88 West at the Anaheim Convention Center. The exposition, which runs until April 10, features more than 600 booths displaying health-enhancing products and all-natural foods, including all-natural dog food, sugar-free vitamins, all-natural makeup and even whole-wheat baklava. More than 10,000 retailers, suppliers and distributors are expected to attend during the four-day exposition, convention center officials said.

Most of the people in the booths and displays represented small businesses run by health-conscious, pro-environment business people.

Michael Zucker, co-director of Auromere of Pomona, a producer of all-natural, herbal toothpaste, said natural foods are designed to benefit the whole body and not just minister to certain ailments.

“Our product not only cleans your teeth, but it rejuvenates the whole mouth,” Zucker said. “It’s like a healing broth for your mouth.”

Zucker warned that most toothpastes on the market contain sugar and other sweeteners, while his product is made only with extracts from plants, barks, roots and flowers.

Muscle-Bound Bodies

While some businesses displayed whole-wheat biscuits and all-natural cookies, others like Gold’s Gym in Venice displayed the product of healthy living: muscle-bound bodies.

Lisa Naslund, Miss Teen-Age National Champion, and Kim LeBlanc Miss Louisiana, both Gold’s Gym body builders, attracted a great deal of attention. The two women, dressed in tight bathing suits and high heels, talked with prospective retailers of Gold’s Gym nutritional products.

Meanwhile, sandwiched between a well-lit booth displaying a state-of-the-art acupuncture treatment and a booth exhibiting high-energy protein pills, Bob Baxter tried with less success to attract some attention to his all-natural pet care products.

Baxter, the marketing director for a Tustin-based business called Nala Barry Laboratories, said his line of products, which include dog and cat shampoos, flea sprays and pet food supplements, are made completely from herbal extracts and contain no insecticides or harsh chemicals.

‘Children Can Lick It Off’

“Dogs can lick it off, cats can lick it off, children can lick it off and it isn’t harmful to them,” he said, pointing to his display. “It is not the kind of product you put away on a top shelf away from a child’s reach.”

Baxter, who started the business 12 years ago, agreed with other exhibitors that people today are less health conscious than in the past but said that that has not hurt business. He said his business, which is concentrated heavily on Southern California, has increased 20% per year.

“Most of the people who buy our products want to take good care of their animals, better care than they give themselves,” said Baxter.

He noted that in the $8-billion pet care industry, natural pet products are relatively few: “We are still in our infancy. This business is growing.”