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ON’s Response to July 2010 Consumer Reports® Article, “Alert: Protein Drinks”
A recently released Consumer Reports® article in their July 2010 issue titled, “Health Alert: Protein Drinks” included tests conducted on 15 different protein powders for heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury) in comparison to the U.S. Pharmacopeia’s proposed limits for heavy metals in dietary supplement products. In these tests, 3 of the 15 products tested above the U.S. Pharmacopeia’s proposed limits for dietary supplements when measured at the 3 serving size, with the assumptions consumers are taking multiple servings/day.
Two Optimum Nutrition products were evaluated in the article, both of which tested well below the proposed U.S. Pharmacopeia limits for heavy metals in dietary supplements, even at the 3 serving level. These 2 ON supplements were Platinum Hydro Whey® (Velocity Vanilla flavor) and Gold Standard 100% Whey™ (Extreme Milk Chocolate flavor). Since Optimum Nutrition’s products tested well below the proposed limits, no specific safety issues were raised about either product in the article. Consumers can be assured our products are safe and manufactured to the highest standards, which the results reflect.
Even in light of this information, ON and its customers will likely be contacted by consumers with questions or concerns they may have following their review of the Consumer Reports® article. Included below are several factual statements that ON encourage its customers and representatives to reference as a means of clarifying questions that may be raised.
• Optimum Nutrition products are always made to the highest standards of quality and safety, and have been for over 20 years.
• Optimum Nutrition’s protein powders are produced in our state of the art production facility, which is inspected by the FDA.
• Before a single machine is turned on we carefully select vendors via an approval program who supply ON with premium raw materials. All vendors must provide a Certificate of Analysis for each raw material as a continued measure of quality. These certificates are then verified through random in-house and independent laboratory testing.
• ON’s finished products are tested by third-party laboratories to ensure their safety and stability as well as their compliance with label claims.
• Quality Assurance professionals make routine checks on all storage, blending, and production areas and conduct final inspections on all lot codes.
• ON has been awarded with certification by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF International), a world leader in standards development, product certification, and risk management for public health and safety.
• ON has consistently received a ‘Superior’ rating from the esteemed American Institute of Baking (AIB) upon the inspection agency’s annual cGMP (current good manufacturing practices) compliance audits of the company’s manufacturing facilities. This top rating denotes ON’s unsurpassed commitment to food safety.
• By comparison, the following average amounts of the metal lead may be found naturally in food, all of which are considered safe, but significantly above the measures of 3 servings of Optimum Nutrition products in the Consumer Reports tests. The U.S. Pharmacopeia proposed limit for lead in dietary supplements was 10mcg (10mcg= 10millionths of a gram):
Food Lead Content (mcg= 1 millionth of a gram)
o 1 sweet potato: 7.2 mcg
o 1 typical glass of red wine: 6.8 mcg
o 1 peach: 3.4 mcg
o 1 apple: 2.6 mcg
o 3 servings of Platinum Hydrowhey: 0 mcg
o 3 servings of 100% Whey: 1 mcg
As the industry leader in quality nutritional products for nearly 25 years, Optimum Nutrition maintains the highest commitment to compliance with all Food & Drug Administration requirements and current Good Manufacturing Practices (“cGMPs”) for food supplements. Optimum’s customers can be confident that our products contain only the best quality ingredients and are made in the safest manner possible.
Two Optimum Nutrition products were evaluated in the article, both of which tested well below the proposed U.S. Pharmacopeia limits for heavy metals in dietary supplements, even at the 3 serving level. These 2 ON supplements were Platinum Hydro Whey® (Velocity Vanilla flavor) and Gold Standard 100% Whey™ (Extreme Milk Chocolate flavor). Since Optimum Nutrition’s products tested well below the proposed limits, no specific safety issues were raised about either product in the article. Consumers can be assured our products are safe and manufactured to the highest standards, which the results reflect.
Even in light of this information, ON and its customers will likely be contacted by consumers with questions or concerns they may have following their review of the Consumer Reports® article. Included below are several factual statements that ON encourage its customers and representatives to reference as a means of clarifying questions that may be raised.
• Optimum Nutrition products are always made to the highest standards of quality and safety, and have been for over 20 years.
• Optimum Nutrition’s protein powders are produced in our state of the art production facility, which is inspected by the FDA.
• Before a single machine is turned on we carefully select vendors via an approval program who supply ON with premium raw materials. All vendors must provide a Certificate of Analysis for each raw material as a continued measure of quality. These certificates are then verified through random in-house and independent laboratory testing.
• ON’s finished products are tested by third-party laboratories to ensure their safety and stability as well as their compliance with label claims.
• Quality Assurance professionals make routine checks on all storage, blending, and production areas and conduct final inspections on all lot codes.
• ON has been awarded with certification by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF International), a world leader in standards development, product certification, and risk management for public health and safety.
• ON has consistently received a ‘Superior’ rating from the esteemed American Institute of Baking (AIB) upon the inspection agency’s annual cGMP (current good manufacturing practices) compliance audits of the company’s manufacturing facilities. This top rating denotes ON’s unsurpassed commitment to food safety.
• By comparison, the following average amounts of the metal lead may be found naturally in food, all of which are considered safe, but significantly above the measures of 3 servings of Optimum Nutrition products in the Consumer Reports tests. The U.S. Pharmacopeia proposed limit for lead in dietary supplements was 10mcg (10mcg= 10millionths of a gram):
Food Lead Content (mcg= 1 millionth of a gram)
o 1 sweet potato: 7.2 mcg
o 1 typical glass of red wine: 6.8 mcg
o 1 peach: 3.4 mcg
o 1 apple: 2.6 mcg
o 3 servings of Platinum Hydrowhey: 0 mcg
o 3 servings of 100% Whey: 1 mcg
As the industry leader in quality nutritional products for nearly 25 years, Optimum Nutrition maintains the highest commitment to compliance with all Food & Drug Administration requirements and current Good Manufacturing Practices (“cGMPs”) for food supplements. Optimum’s customers can be confident that our products contain only the best quality ingredients and are made in the safest manner possible.
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