Valensa Says Its Spirulina First to Be Certified Under USP’s Dietary Ingredient Verification Program

Valensa (Eustis, FL) says that Parry Organic Spirulina has become the first spirulina product on the market to be certified under the United States Pharmacopoeia’s Dietary Ingredient Verification (D-IVP) program.

With USP’s D-IVP certification, Parry Organic Spirulina can now bear the USP Verified Mark on product labels and certificates of analysis. The USP D-IVP program verifies GMP compliance and involves auditing, product testing, document review, and continued surveillance.

Additionally, says Valensa, as part of the D-IVP program, Parry Organic Spirulina was required to comply with the provisional USP monograph for spirulina that was issued for the first time in late 2011. “As a result, Parry Organic Spirulina is the first-and currently only-spirulina product on the market that meets these quality assurance standards,” the company said.

The ingredient also meets California Prop 65 guidelines for metal content, allowing intake of more than 5 g of spirulina per day, which the company says is a “big plus” for a green food product. The company says that no synthetic chemicals or trace minerals, such as iron, are added in during the spirulina cultivation process.

Valensa president and CEO Rudi E. Moerck, PhD, says that it is especially beneficial for an ingredient like spirulina to have the type of added assurance of safety and quality that certification from USP provides because consumers may take spirulina in high doses. “Unlike many dietary supplements, which are taken in milligram doses, many consumers use spirulina like a food-sometimes taking 5 g or more per day,” he said via press release. “This makes it particularly important that we focus on quality and safety, since even small amounts of impurities can have an impact.”

“With some spirulina products in the marketplace,” he added, “there is a concern over metals-particularly lead-which even when present at lower levels can exceed California’s Proposition 65 standards when taken in multiple gram doses.”

Other certifications and affirmations associated with Parry Organic Spirulina are GRAS, USDA NOP, Naturland, and Ecocert.

New certificates of analysis for Parry Organic Spirulina, now bearing the USP logo, will be updated and contain 32 parameters associated with product description, physical and chemical analysis, phyto-pigment analysis, fatty acid profile, microbial analysis, and heavy metals and contaminants analysis.

Spirulina’s key nutritional profile includes protein, phyto-pigment analysis (total carotenoids, beta-carotene, pure phycocyanin, chlorophyll A), and fatty acid profile (gamma linolenic acid, linoleic acid, palmitic acid, and stearic acid).

Parry Organic Spirulina was developed by Parry Nutraceuticals (Chennai, India). (Both Valensa and Parry Nutraceuticals are divisions of EID Parry.)