In order to feel confident about taking a supplement it is really quite important to have an understanding of how they are made. This is doubly important if you have seen or heard negative media reports about supplements...many of which are highly biased and in some cases totally wrong.
So, to help you understand how supplement products should be made I am going to give you a tour of our own facility at Xtend‐Life. This will enable you to question any supplement supplier about any aspect of how their products are made and what standards they adhere to.
We purpose built this facility about three years ago and it is state of the art...but, as you will see shortly it takes more than just a good building to make a good product.
There are many high quality facilities around the world producing dietary supplements which are at pharmaceutical standards similar to what I am about to show you! Unfortunately, there are also many facilities that should be shut down through the use of substandard equipment, processes and hygiene...but, that is another story for another day.
Before I start I should mention about regulatory standards for the manufacture of dietary supplements. If you were to believe some people who are vocal in some media you would think that there were none, particularly in the USA. That could not be further from the truth.
There are a very robust set of GMP regulations in place in the US developed by the US FDA. Although by law all manufacturers should comply there are a significant percentage of manufacturers in the US who still do not comply.
The problem is that the enforcement by the FDA is not as good as it should be, but I know that they are getting further resources and no doubt enforcement will continue to improve. As a New Zealand manufacturer we cannot risk not being compliant otherwise our products could be stopped at the border. So, what you are about to see is how products should be produced if the manufacturer is in compliance with the regulations.
OK...lets start at the beginning.
Raw ingredients...if you don’t have quality raw ingredients you cannot have a quality finished product...period. The decision as to where to source the raw ingredient from is made well in advance to the ingredient arriving in our factory. We thoroughly research the manufacturer of each ingredient to ensure that they meet the quality criteria that we have established.
This may also require an onsite audit of their facilities.
The standard of the manufacturer is more important than where they are located. We use ingredients suppliers from New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, South America, several countries in Europe, Malaysia, India and China.
No matter how good or reliable the manufacturer of the ingredient may be we still put every ingredient through a series of tests when they arrive at our factory.
These tests involve taking samples of each ingredient and sending them to specialist labs around the world. Not only do we test for contaminants we also test for identity and potency. In other words, is the ingredient exactly as it says on the certificate of analysis and does it have the correct amount of active ingredients at the right potency.
Some ingredients we are able to test in our own laboratory but most of them go to specialist Whilst we are waiting for the results... the ingredients are stored in a separate quarantine area pending release. Because of the care that we take in selecting manufacturers we don’t have many tests fail...perhaps 20 a year in which case we send the ingredients back to the manufacturer and refuse to accept them.
When the ingredients are clear for use they taken out of quarantine and put into our general store. They are then available for use in production.
Next step in the process when we are ready to manufacture a product is for our QA department to prepare all the documentation for that particular batch. There is a lot of documentation. which sets out the processes for each batch.
Don’t ask me where my office is...I don’t have one as I travel so much I tend to work virtually but, I use the board room when I am in NZ. This is where I do most of the filming for these well...there you are...a quick tour of how supplements are made. If you would like to know more about this you are always welcome to get in touch with me through our website at www.xtend‐life.com and ask me any thing that you like.
