The straight facts

摘要

A look at what happens behind the scenes of the natural products industry. Purchasing a dietary supplement to sell to your valued customers is no easy task. You want proof that you're getting an accurately labeled product that complies with both Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade:Commission (FTC) standards. It may surprise you to learn that most dietary supplement companies do not manufacture their own products. Here's why: launching a manufacturing facility that is capable of turning out top-quality products that will meet the highest scientific and government standards is financially prohibitive, if not impossible, for most companies. The astronomical costs of machinery, equipment, maintenance, production, offices, storage space, laboratory facilities, scientific and technical personnel, and liability insurance are more than enough to scare away even the most financially wellendowed. And if that doesn't bring them to a standstill, getting bogged down in the muck and mire of procedures and government regulations certainly will. So who's doing it and who's not? Top-quality, bioactive dietary supplements begin with world-class raw materials and state-of-the-art, regulatory-compliant prime manufacturers, companies that oversee the farming and manufacture of nutrient ingredients. These are shipped off to manufacturers of branded products, encapsulators, and contract manufacturers, who guide them through a myriad of complicated in-house mechanical and scientific processes that transform these ingredients into finished dietary supplements.