A Few More Reasons Why NSP’s High-quality Supplements Are Unbeaten
The following information was taken from a recent presentation given by
Lynda Hammons, Vice President of Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs for
Nature’s Sunshine Products.
Consider the Source
There’s a saying: “Garbage in, garbage out.” If you start with mediocre
material, there’s nothing you can do during the manufacturing process to improve
quality. Sourcing is critical to Nature’s Sunshine’s high-quality supplements.
Every
year, NSP scours the world in search of the best fields and crops for each
botanical. Some companies own their own fields. But Nature’s Sunshine has
decided not to own any fields, because if we did, we would have to go to those
fields every year and get that crop, no matter how good or how bad it was.
Instead, we go to different harvesters and find out where the best crop
is that year so we can use the highest of quality ingredients.
The Best of Facilities, the Worst of Facilities.
NSP is committed to bringing our customers the very best botanicals from all
over the world. And we don’t take our suppliers’ word for the quality of their
facilities. We travel the globe to audit our suppliers firsthand and make sure
they are building quality into their entire practice.
Managers often ask about different geographic regions with regard to quality.
Some of the highest-quality ingredients are grown in China. Lynda says, “I have
seen some of the worst facilities in China, and I have seen some of the best
facilities in China.” She adds that she has also seen some of the worst and best
facilities right here in the United States. “Managers need not be
concerned, because we audit our suppliers to make sure they follow good
manufacturing practices,” she says.
Nature’s Sunshine invests heavily in these audits. It is not cheap to travel
so much. But it is critical to see exactly where the botanicals and materials
are processed to ensure we manufacture high-quality supplements. Says Lynda, “We
closely scrutinize all of their processes: how they harvest, how they process
material, how they clean the herb material and their equipment. We take time to
look at minute details that other companies may skip.”
Evaluating Vendor “Facilities” For Quality Ingredients
“When we first contact a supplier, they typically say, ‘We’ll put you down
for an hour tour of the facility.’ We tell them, ‘It’s not a tour. This is an
audit. It can take a minimum of a day, and it can take two days.’
“We
look at their equipment. We look at their documentation. We look at every step
throughout the process to make sure they are following good manufacturing
practices.
“One of the first places I check is the restrooms. I go to both the men’s and
the women’s, and I look for soap and hot water. You would be surprised at the
number of potential suppliers who fail an audit because they don’t have one of
these.
“During an audit in China, the facility did not have any soap because they
said people would steal it. FAIL.
“Last year, we went to an audit in Florida, and a Ph.D. Met with us. He knew
the raw material very well. I went into the restroom, and they had no hot water.
It wasn’t even hooked up! The worst part was that they did not appear to realize
they needed hot water for personal hygiene and to clean their equipment. We
didn’t even complete the audit. FAIL.
“Many suppliers ask, ‘What are you going to the restroom for?’ Obviously,
other companies are not going into their restrooms during audits.
“I’ve earned a nickname in the industry—The Terminator—because it is
very hard to pass one of my audits. I’m proud of that because it means Nature’s
Sunshine quality is extremely difficult to match.”
Sustainability Is Key
As
a manufacturer and distributor of natural, high-quality supplements, NSP feels
it has a stewardship to help maintain the environment and preserve natural
resources for future generations to enjoy. Last September, Nature’s Sunshine
personnel traveled to the Atlantic Coast in Canada to observe the wild-crafted
kelp harvest. The upper portions of kelp float on top of the water. Lynda and
NSP’s Manager of Purchasing, Ellen O’Neal, spent some time with a local
harvester traveling in the boat. The man used a special rake to cut off only the
top of the kelp. If he had pulled the roots out, the crop could not continue to
thrive. His harvesting technique allowed the kelp to grow back, and in several
years they can harvest again from the same location.
We also worked with a biologist the company has on staff who travels to each
of the harvest sites and documents where that company is harvesting every year
and how much they harvested, so they will not go back there too soon to ensure
they select the highest-quality ingredients. That company is taking steps to
make sure they have kelp
and other sea products available for the future. Sustainability measures are
something we consider on every audit.
Mother Nature Doesn’t Always Cooperate
A couple of years ago, NSP had a difficult time sourcing black walnut because
it had been so rainy. We received black walnut material from a supplier, but it
did not contain the active constituents in the proper ratios. So it was
rejected. We can assure our customers that with every lot you’re going to get
the same beneficial active components in every ingredient because we test for
them in every lot.
Harvesting Is Tricky
The timing and technique of the harvest can also play a role in quality of
supplements. If you harvest peppermint on a shady, cool day, it has different
actives than if it’s collected on a sunny, warm day.
The heat level in
cayenne peppers varies according to the temperature at which it is grown.
Good cayenne peppers need very hot days and cool nights. A supplier in Puerto
Rico tried to grow cayenne peppers there. They sent them to us for testing. The
peppers looked beautiful—very red and shiny. But when we bit into them, there
was no heat. Puerto Rico’s climate did not have the cool nights the peppers
needed to grow properly and produce the correct amount of capsaicin for Nature’s
Sunshine’s quality supplements.