National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) has initiated a third-party quality assurance program specifically for raw material suppliers and contract manufacturers. As an extension of the organization’s current NASC Quality Seal Program for finished products in the animal health supplement industry, raw material suppliers and contract manufacturers can now apply for a NASC Quality Supply Chain Partner Seal.
“In our industry, companies have historically relied on a supplier’s certificate of analysis as the sole means of verifying the identity of a material and as a basis for formulating products,” says Bill Bookout, president of NASC, the nonprofit industry trade association leading the charge for national regulation of supplements for companion animals and horses. “However, due to recent issues involving potential contaminants in ingredients, we felt it necessary to launch a program for supply chain partners to help further ensure NASC members deliver quality products to their customers.”
Similar to the NASC Quality Seal, the new seal for supply chain members will be introduced to help recognize that the supplier has successfully completed a verification process and that the information provided on the ingredient’s certificate of analysis is accurate and credible.
To qualify, the raw material supplier must submit the ingredient to three independent U.S. testing laboratories specified and approved by NASC. All raw materials will be tested using specific methodology that follows current established recommendations of the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) and other recognized testing authorities, published monographs or other published testing methods.
“The integrity and future of the animal health supplement industry is dependent on companies disclosing credible, non-biased, verified third-party information about its products including ingredients, which is why we are launching this program for suppliers,” says Bookout. “As an organization, we will continue to implement programs that help ensure quality verification and continued vigilance for the industry.”
NASC is the first organization to initiate a third-party quality assurance program for the animal health supplement industry with its NASC Quality Seal Program. Since 2002, NASC has been the leader in educating consumers, veterinarians and business partners about credible animal supplement products and companies that have successfully completed facility audits of specific, nationally recognized standards through the Quality Seal Program. For more information visit: http://www.nasc.cc.