At NOW foods your concern for safety is our concern for safety. We take countless steps to ensure we select safe ingredients and we follow those ingredients through the manufacturing process to finished packaging, testing each step of the way for contaminants and imperfections. Ensuring safety requires robust and rigorous systems and processes. Our state of the art facility and equipment and our dedicated professional staff work hard to ensure product safety for everyone.

Some examples of the many systems and processes NOW has put in place to ensure product safety.

• We examine the toxicological and safety data for our ingredients when formulating our products. Our scientists work to ensure that products are formulated at safe ingredient levels.
  
  
• We work with trusted, high quality raw material suppliers. We determine their commitment to safety and audit all of them to ensure that they too have systems and processes for safety and quality.
  
  
• We test all our products and ingredients for adulterants and contaminants. This includes testing for heavy metals, microbiological contamination, cross contamination and for specific allergens and gluten. We test our water and air to insure there is no outside contamination coming in and we test to make sure our equipment is clean and sanitized. Click here to learn about our testing capabilities and expertise.
  
  
• Our manufacturing processes follow dietary supplement cGMPs and we are certified by the National Products Association. We use HACCP (Hazard Analysis Contamination Control Point) systems to identify potential hazards and to put in place barriers to prevent them from occurring. These hazards include metals, glass, pests and microbial contamination.
  
  
• Our manufacturing control systems are automated. Our electronic MRP (Manufacturing Resource Planning) system is designed to ensure that the correct materials are used in production with measures such as bar codes to double check accuracy. We have many other checks and balances in manufacturing including separate QC inspection processes.
  
  
• Our QC inspectors accept or reject raw materials, in-process materials, and finished products, based on meeting specifications. Our QC inspectors work independently from our manufacturing personnel so as to eliminate any conflict of interest.
  
  
• NOW products are packaged in containers designed to protect their integrity. We strive to ensure the safety and freshness of all our products through their shelf life.
  
  
• We make sure that all necessary cautions and warnings are placed on product labels, and that any allergens are clearly identified. We have a rigorous label approval process designed to best comply with all relevant laws and regulations and we exceed federal requirements for allergen labeling by also including corn and gluten. As an added layer of caution, NOW is a peanut-free processing facility.

We firmly believe that exceptional finished products start with the best quality raw materials. To ensure product quality from start to finish, NOW works with the industry’s most trusted and reputable raw material suppliers, many of whom are GMP and/or Organic Certified. All vendors are thoroughly screened in accordance with our strict Quality Assurance standards, and each is required to submit a detailed certificate of analysis on every lot that is shipped. NOW Quality technicians perform mandatory inspections on all incoming batches of raw materials. Additionally, audits are conducted to ensure that our key raw material suppliers are in compliance with NOW’s demanding quality standards.

If an incoming batch of raw material does not meet our quality standards, we have no reservations when it comes to rejecting and returning it. Chondroitin is just one of many examples. In one recent year, we pre-tested 45 batches for potency, identity and potential contamination. Of the 45 batches that we tested throughout the year, only 4 were accepted after meeting our strict quality standards. The other 41 batches were rejected and returned to their suppliers.

The relationships that we have forged over the years are rooted in a collective desire to provide today’s health-seeking consumers with superior health products. With assistance and input from nearly a dozen different departments, we work closely with our raw material providers to ensure product quality from the very start. Strong attention to detail and consistent scrutiny in choosing our raw materials are visible throughout each phase of the manufacturing process. This constant scrutiny is of immeasurable worth when it comes to ensuring that the NOW products on your shelves have been carefully tended to; from the moment they arrive at our facility to the time they are shipped to our customers.