NNFA’s GMPs Could Become Industry Standard in Three Years

NEWPORT BEACH, CA—Within the next three years, National Nutritional Foods Association’s (NNFA) Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) seal could show up on products manufactured by its more than 540 supplier/members, the association says.

Indeed, NNFA’s members must be certified for the seal within the next three years or they will lose their membership, according to Phillip Harvey, Ph.D., director of science and quality assurance for NNFA.

The GMP seal was introduced in spring 1999 in hopes that it would become the industry standard, Harvey says. “It’s good for the industry. It’s putting more regulation in. Even drug GMPs still don’t cover some areas of supplements manufacturing.”

Currently, there are five member companies that have been certified, and about 30 more are in process. Springville, UT-based Nature’s Way and Mission Viejo, CA-based Wakunaga of America were awarded the first seals in July.

Harvey says the GMP audit certifies the manufacturing process from purchasing to the finished product, assuring a “state of control.” Criteria include traceability, testing raw product for standards and adulteration, and expiration dating. The NNFA audit process follows FDA’s proposed GMPs, Harvey says.

NNFA GMP certification has three phases: registration, auditing and rating. The first phase could take up to six months during which companies prepare for the audit, Harvey says. Companies then contract with auditors approved by NNFA. A full audit generally costs a company $5,000 to $10,000, Harvey says.

Nature’s Way spokesman Doug Corrigan says his company’s audit was “pretty rigorous, and we’ve already been through FDA certification. You have to keep very close track of everything from labeling to how the product holds up. It’s really about details.”

Auditors spent two weeks at Nature’s Way, Corrigan says, including 20 hours on-site as well as 20 hours off-site reviewing records.

Corrigan thinks the NNFA seal could eventually weed out subpar supplements manufacturers that are unable to pass the audits. “We’ve been there for a long time, and we think other companies aren’t.”

How the seal may impact sales is another question, however. Nature’s Way plans to include the seal in its ads and signs beginning in October or November. But placing the seal on product labels is a more difficult process.

Plans to put the seal on product shrink wrap or caps proved to be too expensive or too invasive, Corrigan says. Consequently, Nature’s Way products probably won’t feature the NNFA seal for at least a year, until labels are redesigned.