Testing Lab To Measure Pet Joint Supplements

Newsline Veterinary Practice News August 2003 p14.

ConsumerLab.com of White Plains, N.Y., will include pet products containing glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM and SAMe in its Joint Supplement Review Series, expected to be published by the end of this year.
The company tests health products to verify products contain the amount of ingredients their labels claim. The review will include veterinary, retail and direct-to-con-sumer channel products.
This will be ConsumerLab's first venture into pet products.
"There was a huge demand for it," said Lisa Sabin, vice president of business development for ConsumerLab. Depending on the program's success, the company could look at other high profile pet health ingredients, including vitamins and Omega-3 and fatty acids.
Under the testing program, ConsumerLab buys products from retailers and sends unmarked products to various independent test labs for the actual testing.
The company then posts results in a pass-fail format on the subscriber-portion of its Web site. Passing products have ingredient content within an acceptable range of what their labels claim. The company does not explain to subscribers how products failed.
ConsumerLab is attempting to start a licensing program in which passing products are eligible to include a ConsumerLab seal on their packaging to bolster consumer confidence.
Manufacturers can participate in the company's "Voluntary Certification Program" for a fee. Under the program, manufacturers can pick which formulas they would like ConsumerLab to test.
ConsumerLab will independently obtain the product, but the program allows manufacturers to make sure certain formulas, such as a top seller, is selected, Sabin said.
Otherwise, ConsumerLab will pick the supplement formulas or not test any of the manufacturers' products at all. It will not test all products on the market.
Another advantage to the voluntary certification program is that passing products will be listed on the free portion of ConsumerLab's Web site. Also, participating manufacturers can choose to have their tested products not included in the review should the product fail.
ConsumerLab.com has nearly 1.6 million visitors per year and the joint supplement section is one of the most visited portions of the site,
Sabin said The company also has more than 50,000 subscribers, mostly consumers and health care professionals, she said.