Dear Everyone,

Salient questions concerning the safety of Chinese materials that may be used in nutritional supplements have arisen as a result of recent revelations in the news media discussing contamination of food products (e.g. pet food ingredients), consumer products (e.g. heavy metals in paint) and other commodities supplied to the world market by China. I must say, this is nothing new to those of us inside the industry, for the quality of Chinese materials has been watched and monitored since the early 1980s when laboratories in China first began to exert influence in the raw materials sector of the U.S. nutrition industry. At that time, vitamin C and inositol represented the first major phalanx to skewer the domestic industry. Hoffman-La Roche in the first instance and A. E. Staley in both cases were most affected. Staley eventually completely abandoned production of inositol, forsaking their pre-eminent position in that commodity under the severe price competition from Chinese sources. When the quality of the Chinese material proved to be the equal of Staley’s, orders to the American manufacturer evaporated..

Since that time, we designers and marketers of nutritional supplements have witnessed a rapid conversion of Chinese raw materials. In the mid-80s, many (but not all) materials were flawed by the presence of heavy metals at unacceptable levels, or unwelcome residue of herbicides or pesticides. But the Chinese chemists and businessmen, who most often gained their higher education at western universities, were on a rapid learning curve. I believe they were and are driven to emulate the most successful western business models in order to gain honor, respect, humanity and affluence.

Globally conducted IQ tests have placed the Chinese on the top rung of the intelligence ladder. That brain power is exercised in the speed with which they have, very simply, “cleaned up their act,” and expanded their reach into the global market for nutritional raw materials. Nowadays, fair consideration is due any Chinese manufacturer offering his materials into the American marketplace where once, in the early 1990s, every material from China was suspect.

This does not mean all Chinese materials are wonderful. But as each production cycle passes, fewer prove to be of substandard quality. How do we know? It is customary in our industry to have on file for each material full microbiological and heavy metal analyses. In the case of Chinese materials, it is also customary for the importer and distributor in the United States to run separate microbiological and heavy metal analyses through an outside, American laboratory to confirm or refute the analyses supplied with the material. In the case of botanical raw materials, additional analyses for active compounds and agricultural contaminants are also run.

In any industry, there will be avenues down which an unprofessional or unscrupulous importer may travel. However, when the goal is to deliver improved health and well being to the consumer, and when the product offered to them is to be ingested, it would be anathema to choose material from such suppliers. If one adds in the pure business considerations of liability, good will and survival, it is evident that it would be foolish to select any materials that lacked the most complete certifications of quality.

Vibrant Health was founded in 1992 on a bedrock of strong ideals. We absolutely seek out the finest raw materials from the most reputable suppliers. Verification of quality and potency with full analyses is required. If we need some piece of analytical data that is not customarily supplied with a material, we will have the tests run ourselves.

Our desire is to use domestic or European raw materials wherever possible; certified organic if available. Yet not everything we may require to fashion our superior formulations is being produced in the United States or Europe. The nutrition industry is now truly a global enterprise with materials of quality and value available from not only the United States and Europe, but also from India, China, Brazil, Nepal, Russia, and a host of other countries. The utilization of ingredients from around the world mandates that professional production standards be in place to both assure the quality of the finished nutritional product and its efficacy to the consumer. Independent laboratory analyses as described above assure that our materials are the best available.

In order to deliver both product quality and efficacy, Vibrant Health purchases and uses only fully verified and analyzed materials from reputable, “top tier” suppliers. GMP certified manufacturers, and GMP/Organic Certified manufacturers are employed to house our materials and produce each finished product. Along the way, in-house GMP labs conduct quality control analyses at each step of the process. A finished product with the band name “Vibrant Health” attached is manufactured to the highest standards our industry can currently achieve.

Very best regards,