Food Protection Trends - February 2010 - 128

WhAT’S hAPPENING IN FOOD SAFETY NSF International Certified for Sport™ Program Announces Support for USDA’s “Supplement Safety Now” Campaign SF International, a not-forprofit public health and safety organization that tests and certifies dietary supplements, has announced full support for the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) “Supplement Safety Now” campaign. This campaign will create increased awareness around this important public health issue and help safeguard consumers from taking steroids and other illegal or controlled substances in products that are marketed as “safe and legal” dietary supplements. “To be clear, products containing steroids and steroid precursors are not supplements, they are Illegal drugs masquerading as dietary supplements,” said Dr. Lori Bestervelt, senior vice president and chief scientific officer for NSF International. “These dangerous and illegal products pose a significant public health risk and more stringent enforcement and independent surveillance is needed to better safeguard consumers.” Recent reports and FDA warnings regarding steroid contamination in products sold as supplements in the US continue to emphasize the need for testing and certification of dietary supplements and nutritional products to ensure they do not contain steroids and other banned substances and contaminants. NSF International has been working on solutions that address this public health issue for nearly a decade, working in concert with sports organizations, anti-doping agencies and supplement manufacturers to develop certification programs that evaluate dietary supplements for steroids and other prohibited substances as well as other contaminants. regarding the safe manufacture of dietary supplements. NSF developed a Dietary Supplement Certification program based on this standard that tests products for contaminants and heavy metals, verifies that what’s on the label is in the bottle and audits manufacturing facilities to ensure they operate using Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs). Since 2004, NSF has partnered with sporting organizations to test and certify dietary supplements and sports nutritional products to ensure they are also free of athletic banned substances. Major League Baseball (MLB), the MLB Player’s Association, the National Football League (NFL), the NFL Player’s Association, Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA), Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), and the Canadian Centre for Ethical Sports (CCES) have all chosen NSF to help verify the products their athletes use are safe and free of banned substances. More information about NSF’s Certified for Sport program is available at www.NSFsport.com. or fabrication criteria of 3-A Symbol authorization. The new resource, ‘Buyer Beware: False or Misleading Claims’, lists companies and marketing web sites that feature misleading or false information about the sanitary design of products used widely in dairy and other food processing applications. Today literally hundreds of sellers market food processing equipment online or through B2B web sites, and many state claims such as ‘meets ‘3-A,’ ‘conforms to 3-A standards’, or the equipment may include ‘3-A’ in a model name or designation. Such references suggest the equipment meets the criteria for 3-A Symbol authorization. Unless the supplier is an authorized 3-A Symbol holder, the buyer is solely responsible for verifying whether the equipment meets the desired (and expected) sanitary design and fabrication criteria. According to 3-A SSI Executive Director Tim Rugh, “All equipment is not created equal and even if it were, wouldn’t you want to verify it? Processors around the world know and trust the 3-A Symbol and that’s why they demand it for their food processing equipment. All equipment displaying the 3-A Symbol or making a claim of 3-A Symbol authorization must pass a comprehensive, independent Third Party Verification (TPV) inspection to assure it meets the sanitary design criteria in a 3-A Sanitary Standard.” “3-A SSI quickly found many unsupported statements of conformance to 3-A Sanitary Standards, 3-A Certification, or authorization to use the 3-A Symbol, including some products such as ‘sanitary butterfly valves’, for which no 3-A Sanitary Standard exists. Unfortunately, N 3-A SSI lntroduces New ‘Buyer Beware’ Resource -A Sanitary Standards, Inc. (3-A SSI) announces a new online resource to help processors, consumers, equipment specifiers and others identify equipment sellers that make false or misleading claims of conforming to the sanitary design 128 FOOD PROTECTION TRENDS | FEBRUARY 2010
http://www.NSFsport.com
Food Protection Trends - February 2010

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