Dietary Supplements NSF 455-2 vs SQF

Hello everyone, I hope you can help me with this, currently our facility is NSF 455-2 certify and we are trying to change to SQF but, we have been told that even though we have SQF we have to be NSF certify as well. Have any of you can advise the reasons for this?

Also, the products we are processing are juices with Zinc and ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) so because of these dietary ingredients we have declare dietary supplements, but these are not truly dietary supplements. So, I am not familiar on whether this need to be classify as dietary supplements, they seem to be more like a fortified food, but i guess in the US there is not regulation for fortified food? Does anybody have more experience on these topics?

Rocio

Are you being told by a customer that you must maintain the NSF 455-2 certification even if you go with SQF?

NSF-455-2 is primarily for the finished product being a DIETARY SUPPLEMENT - all you are doing is adding Zinc and C - but you finished product is not a Dietary Supplement.

If this is customer driven I would point this out to the customer and tell them that dropping the NSF 455-2 and maintaining an SQF program is proper in place of the NSF 455-2.

Those are my thoughts and I'm sticking to them.

Thank you Glenn, that is what i was thinking as well. I am so glad that I am not mistaken. By any chance do you know any documentation (regulation) that can point this out? about my product not being a dietary supplement?

Hi Estrellita3,

Late reply, i think I just figured how to use this forum LOL! I am working in dietary supplements, and trying to get the company certified with nsf, We do have alot of work to do though. Anyway, if you have not found anything documented, here is FDAa description of WHAT IS a dietary supplement. If you dont meet this, then you are not a supplement, and likely wont need NSF.  Direct link here da.gov/food/information-consumers-using-dietary-supplements/questions-and-answers-dietary-supplements#:~:text=A%20dietary%20supplement%20is%20a,intended%20to%20supplement%20the%20diet.

Congress defined the term "dietary supplement" in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. A dietary supplement is a product intended for ingestion that, among other requirements, contains a "dietary ingredient" intended to supplement the diet. The term "dietary ingredient" includes vitamins and minerals; herbs and other botanicals; amino acids; "dietary substances" that are part of the food supply, such as enzymes and live microbials (commonly referred to as "probiotics"); and concentrates, metabolites, constituents, extracts, or combinations of any dietary ingredient from the preceding categories. Dietary supplements may be found in many forms, such as pills, tablets, capsules, gummies, softgels, liquids, and powders. They can also be in the same form as a conventional food category, such as teas or bars, but only if the product is not represented as a conventional food or as a "sole item of a meal or the diet." To be a dietary supplement, a product must also be labeled as a dietary supplement; that is, the product label must include the term "dietary supplement" or equivalent (e.g., "iron supplement" or "herbal supplement"). DSHEA places dietary supplements in a special category under the general umbrella of "foods," unless the product meets the definition of a drug (e.g., because it is labeled to treat or mitigate a disease).