If you want to buy the best dietary supplements you want to make sure you know who is manufacturing the supplement.
Dietary supplements became official in terms of a consumer product in 1994 with the passage of the DSHEA (Dietary Supplement and Health Education Act).
In 2007 DSHEA became fully implemented with the following:
– Regulations to ensure quality throughout the manufacturing, packaging, labeling, and storing of dietary supplements
– Establish quality control procedures, designing and constructing manufacturing plants, and testing ingredients and the finished product
– Requirements for record keeping and handling consumer product complaints
As a result of the new rules on dietary supplement manufacturing many dietary supplement manufacturers went out of business because they were unable to meet the requirements of the new rules.
Manufacturing a product covers the following:
– Collection and sourcing of raw materials
– Evaluation of the raw materials to ensure purity and content
– Manufacture the product according to guidelines
– Laboratory testing of the finished product
– Bottling and labelling of a product
If you want to buy the best dietary supplements you want to ask a few basic questions.
- Does the company manufacture the product? Dietary supplement companies are either a manufacturer or a distributor. If they are a manufacturer they are the ones manufacturing. If they are a distributor they are having the manufacturing being performed by another company.
- If the company is a distributor will they tell you what company is manufacturing their products? By doing this you can take steps to make sure a reputable manufacturer is preparing the product.
- Has the company passed manufacturing audits from the FDA and third party auditors? Companies periodically will be audited by the FDA. In essence, this means they will visit the site to evaluate and review the manufacturing process to ensure all requirements are being met. In addition, they will review documentation on site to ensure all requirements. Some companies may hire ‘third party’ auditors to evaluate their manufacturing process. Third party auditors would be individuals very familiar with the manufacturing process such as former FDA employees. A company should be able to say they have been audited by both the FDA and third party auditors and passed the audit successfully.
Takeaway message:
When trying to buy the best dietary supplements manufacturing is very important. Ideally, a company will evaluate the raw materials at their own manufacturing facility, manufacture their product, and test the finished product. By asking a few of the basic questions above you can see if they are doing all of the manufacturing or relying on other companies to complete the process (i.e. distributing a product).
His research on plant medicine has led to more than 45 publications and abstracts.This research has been presented at international meetings in the USA, France, Turkey, Peru, Israel, Austria, and Italy.
Categories: Dietary Supplements, Quality Control
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