making healthy living a priority. As the nutrition and vitamin industry rapidly expands,
manufacturers are rushing to keep up with the pace of product demand. Unfortunately, many
laboratories and facilities operate in isolation and seldom receive an independent technical
evaluation to measure their compliance and performance in manufacturing. Increased product
demand should never jeopardize high standards for quality and now more than ever,
manufacturers must be transparent and consistent in their processes.
So how can nutritional products manufacturers achieve product quality, consistency and
transparency?
In order to achieve this goal, a company must start with the sourcing of high-quality ingredients
and continue through the meticulous production and advanced testing of every finished product.
Once a company has made the decision to achieve these high standards, having the process,
products, laboratories, and scientists certified and accredited by independent, third party
organizations, such as International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and National
Sanitation Foundation (NSF), is vital to helping customers trust the company’s commitment to
quality.
The commitment to quality and achieving the goal of consistency and transparency is by no
means a quick or inexpensive endeavor. Those who embark on meeting these goals will need
to make a significant investment in laboratories, testing equipment, facilities, ingredients and
scientific talent, to ultimately meet the rigorous testing standards and facility compliance audits
set by ISO and NSF.
For example, at Herbalife Nutrition, the program begins with the cultivation, collection, and
processing of ingredients, then blending them with other ingredients and finally packaging the
blended powders into finished package containers. At each factory, raw materials are
quarantined upon arrival and sampled for Quality Control testing. Materials are only released for
production after passing a comprehensive set of Quality tests. Quality Assurance personnel
monitor the process by checking critical steps in production by utilizing state-of-the art analytical
equipment to ensure product quality and uniformity.
Some examples of the latest analytical technologies and laboratory instrumentation to analyze
raw materials and finished products that a nutritional company would make include equipment
and instruments such as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR), High Performance
Liquid Chromatography (HPLC’s), Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS),
Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP), Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), and
Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) for DNA testing.
So why is certification and accreditation important for nutritional companies?
When a company is able to secure ISO17025 accreditation, it means that the company adheres
to strict standards for the technical competency of laboratory scientific personnel, the accuracy
of microbiology and chemistry testing methods, and the validation of equipment.
ISO17025 accreditation also gives the company confidence in its procedures and provides extra
assurance to consumers that the company’s laboratory tests are very accurate and reliable. And
while this accreditation is not required, companies committed to the goal of quality, consistency,
and transparency should seek to achieve the ISO17025 high standards that will go a long way
to create an industry standard on behalf of consumers.
Similarly, the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF), an accredited, independent third-party
certification body performs regular on-site audits of facilities. NSF conducts tests of federally
regulated Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP’s) and certifies that products made at a facility
are produced consistently and in accordance with the applicable regulations, ensuring that
products continue to meet specifications and label claims.
In summation, companies should begin to adopt the philosophy that they need to operate
through a policy of continuous improvements, and laboratory accreditation provides an
additional mechanism for independent benchmarking. With ISO accreditation and NSF
certification, customers can be confident that a nutrition company’s products and facilities meet
international standards for product quality, testing, and safety.
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