"There's often complaints in the supplement arena that quality can be variable," said Duffy MacKay, senior vice president, of dietary supplements at CHPA. "You're responsible companies are out there making high quality product, paying for third party certifications, extra lab testing and making sure this is all done correctly. We know there's a lot of variability in that, and we've been discussing as an industry, what is the solution?”
MacKay highlighted Amazon’s updated testing policy, noting that he believes it will have a significant impact on the availability of products containing drugs, such as tianeptine, a substance with opioid-like effects that is being falsely marketed and sold in gas stations and online as a dietary supplement.
“Ten years ago, it was no problem getting on that seller platform [Amazon], so I think that's a big game changer,” he added.
The move was such a game changer that other major retailers are considering following in Amazon’s footsteps. During the "New Testing and Certification Requirements for the Dietary Supplement Industry" panel at CHPA’s RSQ, Rachel Turow, senior lead counsel at Walmart, told NutraIngredients-USA that the retailer is likely to follow Amazon’s lead.
“I think it's an indicator that the retailers are watching and recognizing that this reduces their risk in the category,” MacKay said, adding that looking ahead, he is hoping for some harmony among the many industry players.
"One certification fits all needs, right? So you don't need to get 10 certifications to be in 10 retailers," he said. "You need to get one effective GMP certification that's authentic. It's rigorous, and then that works at all the retailers.
"That's the best case scenario, and that's the system that we've been working towards amongst the trade associations because it's untenable when each retailer is asking for its own type of testing or different method and you're doing duplicative testing and all those costs get pushed onto the consumer. So it's really important for industry to work towards harmonization and the 10,000-ft goal would be global harmonization."
To hear more on Amazon’s testing policy, challenges in verifying the identity and quality of complex botanical ingredients and how retail testing has evolved over the last decade, watch the full interview.
