You can't always believe what they say

Every supplement manufacture will tell you they manufacture their products to the highest quality control standards. Are they all telling the truth?

You probably knew that not all of them could be telling the truth. How else could you explain the investigative reports that surface from time to time showing that some supplements picked up at random from health food stores or purchased over the Internet have serious contamination problems or sometimes have no active ingredient.

The good news is, the FDA, after years of inaction, is finally starting to inspect the manufacturing facilities of some of these companies and to put the really bad players out of business. Of course the bad news is that the FDA doesn't have nearly enough inspectors to inspect the many thousands of manufacturing facilities in the United States. And nobody may be monitoring the manufacturing facilities for those supplements that are made overseas.

So can you really believe the claims of product quality made by every the supplement manufacturers? A report about an FDA action against a supplement company, based in upper state New York, is a clear no.

The company in question states on their website: "Our quality products begin with the purchase of the finest ingredients and packaging materials from carefully selected suppliers. Incoming raw materials undergo stringent quality control inspections - for potency and purity - to assure conformance to the product specifications. Careful storage and handling of raw materials maintain optimal viability of all components."

That sounds pretty good. But in fact the FDA recently filed an injunction to halt the production and distribution of dietary supplements by that company because of a number of violations of current standards for Good Manufacturing Practices in the manufacturing, packaging, labeling and holding operations of their dietary supplements.

Specifically the FDA alleged that the company failed to conduct appropriate tests or examinations to verify the identity of raw ingredients prior to their use and failed to qualify suppliers of raw ingredients through confirmation of their Certificate of Analyses through tests or exams prior to the use of the ingredients that the suppliers provided. Basically the FDA is saying that the company failed to live up to its claim that they carry out "stringent quality control tests for purity and potency".

The FDA also alleged that they failed to use effective measures to protect against the inclusion of metals or other foreign materials in their dietary supplements.  In other words the FDA is saying that they may have introduced contamination into their products in the manufacturing process.

And finally the FDA alleged that they failed to hold the components on the diet components, dietary supplements under conditions that do not lead to mix up contamination or deteriorations of components as required. In other words the FDA is saying that the company failed to live up to its claim that they perform "careful storage and handling of raw materials [to] maintain optimal viability of all components".

While these are allegations that ultimately may need to be proven in a court of law, it appears that the facts may be very different from the quality control claims made by the company. I wish I could tell you that this was an isolated case. But as the FDA is starting to investigate supplement manufacturers they are finding more and more manufacturers who are cutting corners on product quality to keep their operating costs low.

So my advice to you is that it may not always be the best idea to buy the cheapest product that you can find on the Internet. You may not be able to believe the quality control claims that the manufacturer makes. My advice is to go with a reputable company that has a long-standing reputation for product quality.*

Buy from people you know, like, and TRUST.  As they will only sell you products from a company they know, like and trust. 

Mary Beth Potrykus
www.mamabearproductions.net

*information provided by Dr. Stephen Chaney