Strategic Partnership Raises the Bar on Botanical Industry Standards

(ANN ARBOR, MI & SCOTTS VALLEY, CA) - NSF International (NSF), an independent, not-for-profit organization, today announced a new strategic partnership with American Herbal Pharmacopoeia® (AHP), a California-based non-profit research organization. 

The integration of AHP’s pharmacopoeial standards with NSF’s validated methods and product certification programs will help boost public confidence in dietary supplements that contain botanicals, such as Echinacea, St. John’s Wort and Gingko Biloba.

“This strategic partnership with AHP marks the realization of great opportunities for both NSF and for AHP, because the two organizations have a shared vision of safer, high quality botanical products,” said NSF President and CEO Kevan P. Lawlor. “Our vision is that this new partnership will translate into increased confidence in botanical dietary supplements and added assurance that consumers are getting what they pay for.”

The partnership will fully integrate the botanical expertise of AHP into NSF’s Dietary Supplements Program, a program that verifies the identity and quantity of ingredients listed on the product label and ensures the product does not contain undeclared ingredients or unacceptable levels of contaminants.

“Since validated methods are critical to ensuring that products meet label content claims, the Institute for Nutraceutical Advancement’s (INA) Method Validation Program (MVP) will continue to play an essential role in NSF Certification,” said Dr. Lori Bestervelt, NSF’s chief technical officer.

In 1998, INA started its Methods Validation Program with a single goal: to validate and make available analytical methods that fulfill the need for global consistency in testing. The effort was one of the first to unite key companies and organizations to create an open dialogue about industry needs in analytical testing. NSF International, the only organization that holds an American National Standard for dietary supplements (NSF/ANSI 173), acquired INA and continues INA's methods development and validation mission through the NSF Dietary Supplements Program.  The Methods Validation Program will be used to facilitate the confirmation of AHP analytical methods that will be included in AHP monographs.

“There is a natural integration between AHP, which needs validated methods for its standards development work and the Methods Validation Program,” said AHP CEO Roy Upton.  “We envision for the Methods Validation Program to be fully integrated into AHP and continue the important work of providing industry with the validated methods it needs.”

Together, NSF and AHP will harmonize botanical industry standards, expedite the development of standards and monographs and help meet consumer demand for quality and accountability.   In the upcoming months, NSF and AHP will work together to implement a unified approach to develop standards specifically for the botanical products sector.

“A partnership between AHP and NSF gives NSF instant credibility within the industry as an authoritative source of botanical expertise and standards,” said Roy Upton.  “For AHP, it provides the infrastructure inherent in fulfilling its mission as a true pharmacopoeia.” 

About AHP: AHP, founded in Santa Cruz, California, began developing qualitative and therapeutic monographs in 1994.  The Mission of the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia® (AHP) mission is to promote the responsible use of herbal medicines and insure they are used with the highest degree of safety and efficacy as is achievable. Their primary way to accomplish this is through the development of standards of identity, purity, and analysis for botanicals, as well as to critically review traditional and scientific data regarding their efficacy and safety.

About NSF International: NSF International, an independent, not-for-profit organization, helps protect you by certifying products and writing standards for food, water, air and consumer goods (www.nsf.org). Founded in 1944, NSF is committed to protecting public health and safety worldwide.  NSF is a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Food and Water Safety and Indoor Environment. Additional services include safety audits for the food and water industries, management systems registrations delivered through NSF International Strategic Registrations, Ltd., organic certification provided by Quality Assurance International and education through the NSF Center for Public Health Education.