Tempe, AZ January 27, 2010
In an effort to provide top-quality products and accurate labeling, X recently partnered with Y to examine a potential problem with one of X’s ingredients, 3,4-divanillyltetrahydrofuran.
After Y notified X about purity issues with Turkesterone, X’s formulators performed a series of tests to evaluate the purity of the ingredient. The tests, however, did not yield conclusive results and what passed as Turkesterone in the past could not be substantiated. Consequently X has proceeded to remove the ingredient from its new Z product.
While X began formulating a new version of Z, they encountered similar problems during testing of the ingredient characterized by it’s founders as 95% 3,4-divanillyltetrahydrofuran (3,4-D). As a result, X turned to Y, which has one of most stringent quality control and testing programs in the industry.
Y commissioned an independent lab to analyze all the material in the market for this specific compound to obtain proper identification. After extensive tests, botanical analysis, and chromograph fingerprints, the material was identified to have a purity of less than 5% 3,4-D, no illegal steroidal structures, and to stem from the Urtica diocia (Nettle) botanical family. The testing procedure was repeated for several additional samples from every known supplier and various products on the market labeled 95% 3,4-D. All of the tests reached the same conclusion of less than 5% 3,4-D purity.
While confident that the ingredient formerly known as 3,4-D “works,” due to the enormous amount of consumer feedback and the Z University study, the information provided from the results of Y’s independent market analysis of the compound has responsibly led X to change its labels to identify the material as “a proprietary extract of the Urtica dioca plant” to comply with federal labeling regulations.
“We are very happy to have the correct label information for this ingredient,” noted Steve Bonnell, Chief Operations Officer of X. “Y’s testing helped reveal a purity misrepresentation, and now we can be sure we are providing correctly indentified products for our loyal customers,” he added.
According to third party testing companies, more than a quarter of finished dietary supplement products sold in the US, and as much as 85% of certain ingredients, have been adulterated or mislabeled in some way. As a result of the 3,4-D testing, X has pledged to employ several new quality control procedures that range from adulteration and contamination testing to additional material screenings. With help from highly regarded manufacturers such as Y, X aims to expand its quality assurance testing and develop the highest quality products in the industry.