NSF International expands dietary supplement testing and certification programmes in Europe

NSF International, the global leader in dietary supplement product testing and certification, is now offering these services in Europe, through its German laboratory, NSF Erdman Analytics.

The programme includes GMP auditing, dietary supplement ingredient testing, next-Generation DNA sequencing and finished product certification. The programme’s flagship NSF Certified for Sport programme also screens supplements on a lot-by-lot basis for more than 200 athletic banned substances from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), USADA, NSF Annex B and many professional sports lists.

The NSF Certified for Sport programme is adhered to by major North American professional sports organisations such as the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Hockey League (NHL), Professional Golf Association (PGA) and Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), as well as the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), all of whom seek help ensuring the supplements used by their athletes do not contain banned substances.

NSF International is the leading certifier of dietary supplements in the US and globally, having developed the official American National Standard for dietary supplements (NSF/ANSI 173 – Dietary Supplements). More than 800 supplement products and ingredients are certified to the NSF/ANSI 173 dietary supplement standard.

NSF International operates a DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory in Germany and worldwide. It provides routine product monitoring and specialist requests through state-of-the-art laboratory equipment and skilled, continuously trained expert staff. Services at this laboratory continue to expand into sports nutrition and dietary supplement testing to meet increasingly specialised customer testing and accreditation needs across Europe.

As dietary supplements are produced from a complicated, global supply chain, manufacturers are testing their raw ingredients and certifying their finished product to ensure their safety and quality. NSF International also offers ingredient testing in China via its NSF Shanghai laboratory for companies sourcing ingredients from Asia.

European ingredient suppliers and manufacturers can save time and cost via the NSF International dietary supplement programme, which includes NSF’s next-generation DNA sequence testing for dietary supplement ingredients and finished products.

The NSF International dietary supplement testing and certification programme has three components: Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) registration, NSF dietary supplement certification and NSF Certified for Sport certification.

Manufacturing facilities must pass twice-annual audits to earn GMP registration before they can move on to earn NSF International’s dietary supplement certification. The dietary supplement certification process includes label claim, toxicology and contaminant reviews with ongoing monitoring to verify compliance through periodic auditing and testing.

The NSF Certified for Sport Certification is the highest level of NSF certification for dietary supplements. In addition to the testing and auditing required for GMP and NSF dietary supplement certification, products are also tested on a lot-by-lot basis for more than 200 athletic banned substances.

NSF Erdmann Analytics’ scientists have the expertise and instrumentation to evaluate the composition of dietary supplement ingredients, including vitamins, minerals, herbs and botanicals, amino acids, sports supplements, concentrates, metabolites, constituents and extracts. The lab’s main testing services include qualitative or quantitative tests of functional components, nutrition labelling and method development and testing for heavy metals, pesticide residues allergens, microbial contaminants and athletic banned substances.

The lab also provides next-generation DNA sequencing testing, which can identify more than 10,000 species of botanicals, animals, fungi and bacteria in raw ingredients and finished products.