Founded in 1820, USP is a non-profit, scientific organization that sets standards for identity, strength, quality, and purity of medicines, food ingredients and dietary supplements, manufactured, distributed and consumed worldwide. USP helps dietary supplement manufacturers, suppliers, and regulators safeguard the ingredient supply, with documentary standards and reference materials for product and ingredient identity, strength, quality and purity.
The organization also offers third-party, independent verification for finished supplements and dietary ingredients. Today, USP offers nearly 800 monographs in its Dietary Supplements Compendium and 200 Reference Standards for use in development and testing of dietary supplements.
“Reports about dietary supplement quality have raised public health concerns and are prompting action from industry, regulators and consumer protection groups alike,” said Gabriel Giancaspro, PhD, vice president, science – dietary supplements and herbal medicines, for USP.
“At this critical juncture, USP is proud to continue its collaboration with UNPA. We welcome opportunities to combine our expertise in support of responsible manufacturers who are eager to ensure supply chain integrity, use public standards and therefore promote the transparency needed to demonstrate the high quality of dietary supplements produced by those responsible manufacturers.”
Loren Israelsen, UNPA president, said: “From the current pressures on supply chain transparency and management to eroding consumer trust in supplements, the industry faces numerous issues of vital importance.
“While we’ve had a productive, mutually supportive relationship with USP for many years, we look forward to working more closely with USP and gaining from its century-long experience in providing comprehensive ingredient standards and supply-chain management solutions that represent an acknowledged benchmark in the global marketplace.”