NSF Expands Sports Certification

ANN ARBOR, Mich. NSF International announced it was approved by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) to offer dietary and sports supplement screening for all nutritional products, including screening for athletic banned substances in dietary supplements and functional foods/beverages. The lab accreditation expands the scope of NSFs existing accreditation to encompass the increasingly critical area of testing for banned substances in sports products.

NSFs existing Athletic Banned Substances Certification ProgramNSF Certified for Sport is recognized by the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and the PGA, among other major sports organizations. Requirements for companies seeking certification under the program include a label claim review, toxicology review, contaminant review, facility inspection, two GMP (good manufacturing practice) audits annually, and ongoing monitoring to verify continued compliance.

Making supplements safer for athletes and consumers is an essential part of our public health and safety mission, said Edward Wyszumiala, general manager of NSFs Dietary Supplement Certification Programs. We developed the only American National Standard for dietary supplements and this accreditation expansion will also help make sure dietary supplement and other nutritional products are meeting safety and quality requirements.

To become accredited by SCC, NSF underwent a field audit and a quality systems audit to evaluate NSFs ability and expertise to perform specialized testing for banned substances. This process included a review of documentation, records, personnel qualifications, training programs, as well as extensive interviews with NSF staff. This scope extension enables NSF to play an important role in assessing the safety of these types of supplements, said John Walter, SCC executive director. Their accreditation by SCC demonstrates to clients and consumers that they place a high value on third-party verification of their work, and that they have the competencies required to perform this type of testing.