The consensus among trade organizations is that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s latest move in is his assault on the dietary supplement industry is based on the falsehood that supplements are unsafe and inadequately regulated.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has taken his assault against the dietary supplement industry up another notch with a letter he and 13 other attorneys general have sent to members of Congress asking for an investigation of the herbal supplements...
Single ingredient trade groups are becoming an increasingly common feature of the dietary supplement industry. Whether they burnish the overall image of the sector or serve to further Balkanize the industry’s message is a matter of debate.
The NYAG affair has put the simmering pot of adulteration of herbal ingredients back on the front burner. A session at the upcoming Ingredient Marketplace trade show in Orlando will focus on the scope of the issue, on methods of detection and on new adulteration...
A consensus is forming around the deal that GNC entered into with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The deal is being seen as good for GNC’s short term interests but bad for the future of the dietary supplement industry as a whole.
There's another pharmaceutical ingredient to add to the list of APIs showing up in products marketed as dietary supplements. It’s fluoxetine, an antidepressant, and why fly-by-night formulators seem to be using it is something of a mystery.
Tainted products aimed at erectile dysfunction seem to be a durable feature of the marketplace. A recent FDA communication listed 26 public warnings issued since Feb. 27 on erectile dysfunction products tainted with undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients....
The dietary supplement industry received a welcome breath of fresh air in a meeting of industry representatives with Rep. Ted Lieu, the newly elected Democrat in California’s 33rd Congressional District. The meeting was arranged by Jarrow Formulas and...
The Natural Products Association (NPA) and UL have announced a new partnership to certify Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for dietary supplement makers.
Costa Mesa-based Alkemist Labs has expanded its reference material offerings to include phytochemical reference standards from France-based Extrasynthese.
The German authorities have blocked a shipment of products containing the unauthorised novel food ingredient aegeline and American firm USP Labs is making inquiries into whether this relates to its recalled OxyElite product.
A new testing firm has debuted that the founder and CEO says will offer a way to judge ingredients based not just on their chemical profiles but on their actual biological activity.
The NY Attorney General's actions are forcing companies to think more deeply about their ingredient testing, which should lead to a faster adoption of effective testing protocols for insuring the purity of chondroitin ingredients, said the CEO of...
Citing shortcomings in the way the New York Attorney General’s office relied on DNA barcoding in its recent action is all well and good, but having a more proactive method to engage law enforcement authorities and mainstream media figures on issues of...
The dietary supplement industry might eventually come out ahead in the public relations battle over the fallout caused by the actions of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. But that shouldn’t paper over the fact that serious questions about the...
Despite the prominent black eye suffered by the dietary supplement industry in the recent New York Attorney General affair, increased demand for testing services is a sign the industry is taking quality seriously and is getting better, according to Alkemist...
The budget request from the White House for the Food and Drug Administration is part of President Obama’s overall budget that will not see the light of day. Nevertheless, the massive document does include priorities that are likely to be addressed in...
The New York state attorney general’s investigation into allegedly substandard herbal dietary supplements was flawed from the start by an inexplicable failure to refer to national standards established for the testing of such products, experts say.
A recent FDA warning letter to a company making products based on whole dandelion parts and other herbs seems to call into question whether organoleptic identification of incoming botanical specimens still passes muster as far as the agency is concerned....
As part of a second phase of its Botanical Adulterants Program, The American Botanical Council has released the first of a series of laboratory guidance documents, this one pertaining to the herb skullcap. First, the program alerted industry as to what...
Dietary supplement manufacturing giant Pharmavite LLC has made a big move into natural channel supplements with its acquisition of whole food supplement manufacturer FoodState Inc. Pharmavite acquired the company from the private equity firm 2X Consumer...
The owner of a dietary supplement company has pleaded guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with the sale of diluted and adulterated ingredients and supplements. The plea deal comes with an agreement to pay a fine that exceeds $1 million.
Managing botanical supply chains in the face of volatility in demand and pricing is a matter of managing relationships and gathering the appropriate information. Business as usual, in other words.
Warning letters are the regulatory tea leaves of the dietary supplements business and the Council for Responsible Nutrition has launched a new tool that will help industry read what they have to tell.
Leading chondroitin sulfate supplier Synutra Ingredients has announced the publication of the ‘most effective testing protocols for insuring the purity of chondroitin ingredients’, with the UNPA moving quickly to advise its members to adopt the method.
A recent study found that numerous recalled supplements lingered on the market for months or even years after their recall dates. The nature of recalls supplies part of the reason why this is the case. Getting products off the market via a recall is a...
Import refusals by the Food and Drug Administration are ramping up and are likely to become more common as some of the rules associated with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) kick into gear in the coming year, said an executive with a labeling...
The Botanical Adulterants Program is “raising the bar of awareness of this growing problem among industry stakeholders and is trying to bring various remedies to the table,” program director Mark Blumenthal said at the SupplySide West trade show in Las...
The smallest tier of dietary supplement manufacturers still, as a class, lack comprehensive understanding of GMP requirements, according a digital solutions provider.
A recent study has found 1,3-dimethylbutylamine (DMBA), a synthetic stimulant similar to DMAA, in 12 of 14 dietary supplements tested. According to Dr Pieter Cohen, one of the study’s authors, no information exists on the safety and acceptable dosages...
Synutra Ingredients’s efforts to educate the industry about new adulterants in chondroitin are gaining traction, but the industry needs to apply effective testing methods and not just ‘pay it lip service’, says the company’s president.
Kratom continues to be imported into the US in large quantities and marketed as a dietary supplement. And some supplies of this botanical may be laced with dangerous undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients, according to one investigator.
Relaunching as an employee-owned company will help focus Twinlab on its mission of “reauthenticating” the brand in the natural channel, said CEO Tom Tolworthy.
Nordic Naturals has extended its line of omega-3 supplements that are NSF Certified for Sport with a liquid form of its Omega-D3 Sport line, which the company says is the first liquid omega-3 product to be so certified.
A major self policing and informational effort in the dietary supplement industry has received a signifcant boost on the international stage. The Botanical Adulterants program, a coopertive venture of three North American-based organizaitons, has been...
A review of recent FDA enforcement actions concerning tainted products marketed as dietary supplements highlights the scope of the problem facing regulators and the limitations they operate under in dealing with it.
The presence of undeclared pharmaceutical ingredients in products purporting to be dietary supplements is garnering an increasing amount of attention and enforcement from the Food and Drug Administration, databases compiled by the American Herbal Products...
Recent pathogen outbreaks in raw chia powder and concerns over whether some psyllium is actually food grade highlight the ongoing importance of selecting suppliers wisely, says the CEO of BI Nutraceuticals.
A new e-newsletter from a consortium of nonprofit herbal advocacy and research organizations will provide information related to the prevention and detection of herbal adulteration, quality assurance challenges facing the global botanical products community.
The dietary supplements industry has been advised to implement effective ingredient testing methods for chondroitin after a team of industry and analytical experts identified a recently discovered adulterant as sodium hexametaphosphate, or Calgon.
Botanical adulteration, like doping in sports, is a problem that can be controlled but never totally resolved, but what is being done about it? Here the world’s biggest botanical players debate their attacks on the problem.
Updated: USP outlines its improvements for ginkgo testing
A new, simple method can address the problem of identifying adulterants in ginkgo biloba extracts, claim the scientists from Southern Cross University and Integria Healthcare in Australia who developed it.
The American Botanical Council has acquired a powerful partner. The world’s largest organization concerned with medicial plants has endorsed ABC’s adulterants program, which researches and publicizes the substances used to adulterate many botanicals...
Efforts by Synutra Ingredients to clean up the chondroitin supply chain are being heeded by the ‘largest and best’ supplement manufacturers, says the company’s president, with the company now the #1 chondroitin supplier in the US.
DNA barcoding for botanicals has a bright future, despite comments that it may not yet be fit for purpose, and the next 2-3 years will see a ‘huge shift’ towards the ‘robust and reliable technology’, says the CEO of AuthenTechnologies.
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