About Us

The story of ESM Technologies begins in the Midwestern heartland shortly after a young man returned from his tour in the Korean War. Once he settled in to being back home, he began selling eggs out of the back of his family’s station wagon.

As we know, eggs move from the farm to egg-breaking facilities, where the center protein white and yolk are separated out for use in baked goods, mayonnaise, ice cream and other packaged products.

In past years, for the shell, this was where it ended – headed for the landfill. And we’re not talking about a small amount here; we’re talking upwards of 600,000 tons of shells per year. That was a massive, never-ending addition to our landfills, which are a thorn in our American-side – something we’d drastically like to reduce.

As our founder watched yet another truckload full of discarded shells drive off from an egg-breaking facility, he thought, “There has to be something good that can come out of all those eggshells.”

He was right.

Timeline

• 1990’s – Hollis Osborne, Founder of ESM Technologies, began working on the research and value found in leftover eggshells.
• 2002 – Membrell was started, which supplied finished products for joint and bone health.
• 2003 – An efficient way to separate the eggshell membrane from eggshell was discovered. What Hollis and his team developed was a total mechanical system that uses heat and vacuum to separate the membrane from the eggshell. This is now patented process is ideal in that it does not require any chemicals and the only byproduct of the process is steam.
• 2003 – ESM Technologies, LLC headquartered in Carthage, Missouri, was established as a nutritional ingredient manufacturer to develop unique natural products derived from the egg, a whole food source.
• 2009 ESM Technologies becomes one of the first ingredient manufacturers to obtain GMP certification through NSF International.
• 2010 – Novus Nutrition Brands, LLC (NNB), ESM’s majority member, have operated with a shared sales team, as well as warehouse and shipping operations.
• 2012 – ESM Technologies opens an R&D lab in the Jordan Valley Innovation Center of Missouri State University.
• 2013 – ESM sells Membrell assets to Redd Remedies, a finished product manufacturer, and current customer of ESM/Stratum. This allowed ESM & Stratum to focus on efforts in selling ingredients worldwide.
• 2017 – ESM acquired the Stratum Nutrition brand and related assets from NNB. This consolidation streamlined business operations to include order processing and other accounting functions. ESM & NNB maintain their strong relationship as a joint-venture company.

With over 150 years of industry experience between our staff, this allows us to not only select and offer amazing ingredient products but to also offer a streamlined product launch process to help brands we work with in a quicker start to launch timeline.

This streamlined approach to product development and launch execution is made possible through our layered approach within the categories of Efficacy, Quality, Compliance, Story, and Demand. We help our customers define these layers and find pain points for them within the product paunch process and assist them by providing support to those pain points.

Founded on the commitment to improve quality of life, ESM is maximizing the potential of its source materials while responsibly minimizing its operation’s environmental footprint.

After studying the health benefits of eggshell membrane and finding that it had been used for countless health benefits all the way back to Japan’s antiquity, our company began its mission to transform this wasted resource into a powerful, naturally sourced joint health supplement.

While the egg is chocked full of healthy protein, it turns out that it’s not just what’s on the inside that counts. Research has discovered in the outer shell layers lies a whole world of nutrients.

The exterior hard shell is an ultra-pure source of calcium; a calcium source much lower in heavy metals than other sources. And just inside of this hard shell, was the eggshell membrane.

This membrane consists of collagen and other important proteins, as well as glycosaminoglycans such as chondroitin and hyaluronic acid – the key building blocks for our joints which have the important role of keeping our skeletal systems fluid, moving, functioning as they should. The membrane is a natural, effective combination of exactly what our joints need to thrive, created by none other than nature itself.

After years of R & D, a patented process to separate the membrane from the outer eggshell was created. This is what became NEM® and is now found in supplement products throughout the world improving the lives of many. A reassuring tidbit is that we know exactly where the shells come from. Here at ESM Technologies, we are able to trace the eggshells clear back to their humble Midwestern farm roots.

NEM® was born out of a desire to find additional value in eggshells left over from the egg products industry. To add to their environmentally friendly checklist, the only byproduct of their natural manufacturing process is steam.

To sum things up, a massive number of eggshells are diverted from entering the landfill, put to use for the good of people, and the environment is not harmed in the manufacturing process – creating a win-win-win situation.

US 10,328,104 “Methods for Treating NF-KB Dysregulation in a Host in Need Thereof Using Eggshell Membrane Compositions” (2019). This patent covers the use of eggshell membrane to treat conditions of the gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, nervous, and pulmonary systems that involve immune dysregulation (via NF-KB).

US 9,983,214 “Method For Evaluating Articular Joint Therapeutics” (2018). This patent covers the use of the cartilage degradation biomarker CTX-II to evaluate the chondroprotective effect of joint therapeutics through an exercise-induced clinical model in either healthy or diseased individuals.

US 8,580,315 “Anti-inflammatory Activity of Eggshell Membrane and Processed Eggshell Membrane Preparations” (2013). This patent covers the reduction of serum pro-inflammatory cytokines by systemically administering eggshell membrane, processed membrane preparations, membrane isolates and combinations thereof.

US 7,017,277 “Vacuum Treatment of an Input Stream Without Ruining Delicate Output Fractions” (2006). This patent covers the separation of shells and membrane.

US 6,946,551 “Preparation of Hyaluronic Acid from Eggshell Membrane” (2005). This patent covers the preparation of hyaluronic acid containing eggshell membrane products.