Discuss jctoad's answer to: Why benefiber is out of stock

This will most likely not be short lived.  Novartis stated that the plant will be shut down until "mid-year".  Novartis has not been very truthful with the FDA and many suspect that they are understating the amount of time until they reopen.  "it would be at least mid-year before the Lincoln plant is shipping products again." said the Novartis spokeswoman.  Not to mention the amount of time it will take to restock the shelves with Benefiber and all the recalled drugs.

See Novartis assumes resuming Lincoln shipments at 'midyear' and Most-recent FDA report sheds light on Novartis shutdown, recall

My friend told me today that Kroger sells their store brand of Wheat Dextrin fiber (same thing as Benefiber).  That store had 2 bottles of it and 2 bottles of Benefiber in stock.  I do not know if the Kroger brand is also distributed by Novartis.  If so, it will soon be out of stock also.  So far, this is the only replacement that I have found for Benefiber.  It seems as if Benefiber is made in France and packaged in Lincoln Nebraska.  From what I have found, Costco, Walmart, Walgreens, Sam's Club and CVS have no Benefiber.

Update:
I have found Benefiber on Ebay and when I messaged the seller about it, he said that they were out of stock and they pulled the listing.

Another friend told me that she bought 2 bottles in store at Meijer yesterday.

I also found that Walmart (Equate: Wheat Dextrin) as well as Kroger's sells Wheat Dextrin.  Walgreen's and CVS (CVS Easy fiber) sell Corn Dextrin, which should be basically the same.  The wheat seems to be a bit cheaper than the corn.  Walmart has the lowest price.  125 Servings for $9.84 =  7.9 cents/serving.  That's almost 1/2 the price of Benefiber!

Benefiber (wheat dextrin) is made in France by Roquette under the trade name of Nutriose.  It is shipped to Novartis in Lincoln, NE where they put it in the Benefiber bottles (or should I say "used to put it in bottles") and distribute it.  So it seems that since Roquette is still operating, there should be plenty of Wheat Dextrin and Corn Dextrin (they make both) around for us. Cool  This is assuming that Novartis isn't the only packager/distributor of the fiber.

Canadian Benefiber used to be made of partially hydrolyzed guar gum (PHGG), but recently changed to Inulin, which is a soluble fiber that is extracted from the chicory root.  Since it is made from different fiber, it would not be packaged at the Lincoln plant.  So there should be no shortage of Canadian Benefiber which I think you should be able to order online.  However, some of the Canadian sites sell American BF.  Maybe they have it in stock.  You can tell the difference because true Canadian BF (spelled Benefibre, eh) will have Inulin instead of Wheat Dextrin.

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