NSF International Extends Dietary Supplement Certification Programs to Europe

Photo © iStockphoto.com/Сергей Хакимуллин

Following NSF International’s (Ann Arbor, MI) acquisition of German testing laboratory Erdman Analytics more than a year ago, NSF officially announced that it is extending its dietary supplement product testing and certification services to Europe. The company made the formal announcement at this May’s Vitafoods Europe trade show.

In addition to performing testing for dietary supplements, Erdman Analytics (Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany) specializes in testing for foods, including packaged food, dairy, produce, meat, fruit juices, and pet food. The laboratory is now performing testing for all three legs of NSF’s dietary supplement testing and certification programs: Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) registration, NSF dietary supplement certification, and NSF Certified for Sport. For these programs, Erdman will conduct GMP auditing, dietary supplement ingredient testing (qualitative and quantitative tests, plus testing for heavy metals, allergens, and contaminants), next-generation DNA testing, and finished-product certification. NSF follows the American National Standard for dietary supplements (NSF/ANSI 173-Dietary Supplements), which it created. NSF says that more than 800 supplement products and ingredients have now been certified to this standard.

Of Erdman Analytics, NSF said in a press release, “Services at this laboratory continue to expand into sports nutrition and dietary supplement testing to meet increasingly specialized customer testing and accreditation needs across Europe.” The NSF Certified for Sport program tests products for more than 200 substances that are banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), etc., and is already used by major North American sports organizations such as Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport.

In addition to serving Europe, NSF has a Shanghai, China, laboratory that performs testing for companies sourcing ingredients from Asia.

“Retailers and consumers want to know they can trust the safety and quality of supplements, and now with NSF International’s dietary supplement testing and certification capabilities at our Germany laboratory, supplement manufacturers with facilities in and around Europe can save time and cost while they provide safer and high-quality dietary and sport supplements.”

Also read:

Which Testing Technologies Are the Most Cost-Efficient for Your Dietary Supplement Company?

The Latest Testing Techniques for Catching Dietary Supplement Fraud and Adulteration

Jennifer Grebow
Editor-in-Chief
Nutritional Outlook magazine
jennifer.grebow@ubm.com