USP Gains DSVP Member, Announces Standards/Testing Plans

USP Gains DSVP Member, Announces Standards/Testing Plans

ROCKVILLE, Md.--The U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) and Pharmavite Corp. in Northridge, Calif., announced that Pharmavite will be the first company to participate in USP's Dietary Supplement Verification Program(DSVP). Pharmavite (www.naturemade.com), which also participated in the DSVP pilot program, will submit its Nature Made vitamin and mineral product line for DSVP certification.

The DSVP program confirms that products contain the declared ingredients in their stated amounts from the product label, that they meet requirements for limits on potential contaminants, and that they comply with USP and proposed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards for good manufacturing practices (GMPs). Once the products have been reviewed, they may carry the DSVP certification mark on the products' labels. Nature Made expects to have products with the DSVP mark by the end of the year.

USP also agreed to test a children's chewable multi-vitamin that will be used in The Healthy Foundation's congressionally funded research program. USP will test to its DSVP standards to ensure the products being distributed to children through the program meet quality standards.

Finally, USP released its standards of quality for choline chloride and choline bitartrate, two common forms of choline used in processed food fortification. The new standards appear in the February supplement for the USP official standards publication, the United States Pharmacopeia and the National Formulary (USP 25-NF 20). The monographs contain specifications to assure the identity, strength, quality and purity of ingredients. According to USP, Balchem Encapsulates (www.balchem.com) is currently the only manufacturer that meets USP-grade standards for both choline forms, available in its Vitashure™ choline line.