EQP program helps healthcare professionals identify quality of dietary supplements

Not all supplements are created equally but Emerson Ecologics, the largest provider of dietary supplements and services to healthcare professionals, is taking aggressive steps to make it more clear to healthcare professionals and their patients which manufacturers to trust when it comes to a supplement's purity, identity and potency.  In May, the company launched a first-of-its-kind quality assurance program called the Emerson Quality Program (EQP) that's now being accessed by thousands of healthcare practitioners nationwide.

"Since we launched the EQP we have identified some supplement manufacturers who are minimally compliant with federal regulations for the supplement industry, but we have also highlighted and verified those companies that are ahead of the curve and producing exceptionally high quality supplements," says Fran Towey, president of the 30-year-old company, Emerson Ecologics. "Healthcare professionals have difficulties accessing credible information about supplement quality and safety which is one of the major reasons we launched this program."

Emerson Ecologics distributes more than 20,000 products from hundreds of dietary supplement manufacturers to healthcare practitioners who recommend supplements to their patients.  Earlier this year, the company launched the EQP to distribute unbiased and verified information about the manufacturing practices of its suppliers to healthcare professionals. The EQP is voluntary for manufacturers and there is no cost to participate.  Towey says that current participation is strong and growing.  

"We developed this pace-setting program to provide healthcare professionals with an unbiased tool to access information quickly, so they can confidently make recommendations to their patients," says Towey. "We fully expect our program to evolve and expand beyond this initial phase.  Our commitment to practitioners and their patients is to continue our rigorous evaluation of the supplements they recommend and use."

To be considered for the EQP program, supplement manufacturers must be certified GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) compliant by a third-party such as NSF International, United States Pharmacopeia (USP) or Natural Products Association (NPA).  Manufacturers that meet EQP standards are awarded one of three EQP seals.  The partner seal means the company is certified GMP compliant and has a robust raw material supplier qualification program.   The silver seal attests to the use of the most precise and sensitive testing methodologies and the gold seal recognizes companies who are going above and beyond current legal testing and auditing requirements, as well as voluntarily submitting to stability and more extensive and frequent contamination testing.