Happy GMP Day

As of today, June 25, all dietary supplement manufacturers are now required by law to follow good manufacturing practices (GMPs).

Since the GMP final rule was first inked in 2007, the entire dietary supplement industry has had 36 months to prepare itself for the changes. Now, even companies with fewer than 20 employees are required to be comply with the regulation.

GMPs set into play a list of cautionary guidelines for everything from testing the purity of ingredients and storing them to responding to adverse event reports on products.

'This is a historic day for the dietary supplement industry and its consumers,' said Steve Mister, president and CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (Washington, DC). 'Full implementation of the GMP regulations that we fought so hard for should put to rest any skepticism that our industry is not regulated. Clearly, there are stringent manufacturing standards that our entire industry must adhere to and we expect that after three years of preparation for implementation, manufacturers are prepared to embrace GMP compliance as another illustration of an industry committed to its consumers.'

So far, Summer 2010 means full compliance with GMPs in the dietary supplement industry'”but more regulatory fixes could be on the way. Two critical pieces of dietary supplement legislation'”the Food Safety Modernization Act and the Dietary Supplement Full Implementation and Enforcement Act'”could also see action in the coming months.

Stay tuned.