Washington, D.C., May 17, 2017—In response to FDA’s announcement of the implementation of its Program Alignment, the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), the leading trade association for the dietary supplement and functional food industry, issued the following statement:
Statement by Steve Mister, president & CEO, CRN:
“CRN commends FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb and the agency for announcing the implementation of its Program Alignment, a major initiative that will help strengthen FDA’s ability to protect public health. CRN has long urged FDA to move to commodity-based inspections so that the agency could become more efficient and effective in overseeing dietary supplement manufacturing operations, and we are hopeful that the Program Alignment will achieve this.
Since FDA issued the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) regulations for dietary supplements nearly 10 years ago, both industry and FDA’s inspectors, who have been previously enforcing as product generalists, have been challenged to understand and implement the minutiae of these requirements that are critical to ensuring product safety. We are strongly supportive of the Program Alignment as it will allow FDA inspectors to develop expertise in the manufacturing of a particular class of products, such as dietary supplements, and foster increased collaboration between FDA inspectors and the industry in addressing the challenges of dietary supplement GMPs.
Overall, FDA’s Program Alignment is a positive step in the agency’s efforts to fully enforce the law, which will ultimately benefit the consumer who deserves the highest quality dietary supplement products.”
Note to Editor: The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), founded in 1973, is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing 150+ dietary supplement and functional food manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, and companies providing services to those manufacturers and suppliers. In addition to complying with a host of federal and state regulations governing dietary supplements and food in the areas of manufacturing, marketing, quality control and safety, our manufacturer and supplier members also agree to adhere to additional voluntary guidelines as well as to CRN’s Code of Ethics. Visit www.crnusa.org. Follow us on Twitter @crn_supplements and @wannabewell and on Facebook.