The goal of the alliance is to ensure the sustainability and growth of stakeholders within the industry, as well as protecting the authenticity and quality of botanical ingredients, according to a statement by BI.
An example of the alliance’s programs to improve and standardize verification processes includes a global standard of biological reference materials DNA library for natural health products.
“The University of Guelph has long been recognized as a leader in DNA-based biotechnology. The expected growth of the natural products industry and growing concern over sustainability of raw materials has outlined the need for leadership in creating industry standards,” according to the statement.
“The NHP Research Alliance was created with this goal in mind. The main vision of the Alliance is to ensure authentication and ingredient sustainability on a global level.”
Randy Kreienbrink, Vice President of Marketing at BI, said: “BI has long been an advocate for authentication of botanical ingredients. All of our ingredients undergo stringent quality analysis prior to impacting our customers in any form.”
“The type of DNA methods advocated by the NHP Research Alliance has great implications for the industry,” said Rupa Das, Vice President of Global Quality and Compliance.
“These diagnostic tools can reinforce current quality control systems against the risk of adulteration and contamination often experienced with increased demand and consumption. BI’s Identilok species testing identification process has added great value as a very stringent and thorough methodology for ingredient testing. Similar to the NHP research alliance, we feel that the DNA brings added value as yet another verification tool. We’re very proud of our alliance with this important leadership group and the positive impact on the industry”.