Cooperative methods form drive behind ARC
Analytical Research Collective (ARC) to develop validation methods
that will boost product quality in the dietary supplement industry.
The ARC is formed of six experts from various labs across the US who will use a peer-review process for method selection and validation. The group claims it is not aiming to become an independent certification body for the industry, but rather a cooperative third party testing mechanism. Calls from industry for an independent testing body have repeatedly and ever more urgently come from the dietary supplement industry as it seeks to regulate itself and weed out those companies that do not engage in strong science. ARC says it can potentially eliminate some of these problems by offering a forum for companies to share methods, something that has been an obstacle for other initiatives in the past. "We want to formalize this communication to get robust methods out there," one of the ARC founding members Paula Brown told NutraIngredients-USA. "It's time for us to take the lead." The other founding members of the organization are:
Jana Hildreth, Blaze Science Industries
David Ji, Analytical Laboratories
Jim Neal-Kababick, Flora Research Laboratories
Mark Roman, Tampa Bay Analytical Research
Jeff Varelman, KML Laboratories
The members are trying to create a new model for independent testing, and cite a drawbacks of the previous initiative, the Institute for Nutraceutical Advancement (INA). "As much as INA was a good idea, labs weren't open to giving their methods," opinioned Brown. ARC members say, unlike the business model of INA, its organization is non-profit and independent of business interests. "We're non-biased, we don't have a product," Hildreth told NutraIngredients-USA. "We're asking labs to give volunteer time and will be going to companies to ask them what they need." Accordingly, the aim of the ARC will be to better communicate what methods have been validated. "We're building upon what INA started, but with better resources," said Brown. The problem with the scope of testing bodies such as the AOAC International or US Pharmacopeia, according to ARC members, is that they don't communicate enough to the dietary supplement industry what are the appropriate methods or monographs for their ingredients. "As soon as this gets rolling," said Hildreth, "We will create the tools that everyone can measure against."
