Quality Control and Testing

Superior Quality Control

Your health and well-being are our highest priority, and everything we do is managed with that in mind. We employ leading experts in the field of dietary supplements, and we have partnered with reputable laboratories here in North America to ensure the purity and safety of our herbs. We have an extensive system for maintaining the highest possible standards for quality control of our herbs.

Testing for botanicals is classified into the following four categories: Microbiologicals, Heavy Metals, Pesticides, and Identification.

Certified Organic Herbs

At Natural Relief we take pride in providing our customers with the highest quality Ayurvedic herbs possible. We begin with a firm commitment to eco-stewardship, knowing that what is best for the planet is best for all of us. At this time, majority of our herbs are USDA certified organically grown and sustainably harvested.

Microbiologicals

Natural Relief requires microbiological testing and certificates of analysis from all of our suppliers for every batch of herbs; however, we do not solely rely on vendor certificates of analysis for testing data. All of our herbs are tested multiple times at third party labs. Our labs use all appropriate testing methods, with criteria and methods of analysis determined by the following third-party organizations and protocols:

• USP (simply USP) is an organization that sets standards for public health and related programs to help ensure the quality, safety, and benefit of medicines, supplements, and foods.
• AHPA (American Herbal Products Association) is a national trade association and voice for the herbal industry.

The standards are as follows and are measured in colony forming units per gram (CFU/g):

• Total aerobic microbial count <10^7 CFU/g
• Total combined yeast and molds <10^5 CFU/g
• Coliform <10^4 CFU/g
• E. Coli absent in 10 gm
• Salmonella absent in 25gm
• Staphylococcus aureus absent in 25 gm

Heavy Metals

As noted by the AHPA, “The Prop 65 warnings are well-intentioned, but can be alarming and even misleading, since the warnings often occur on products that present no actual risk.” To continue serving our California customers and to be in compliance with California Proposition 65, we opted to add the warning label to our products sold in that state. For more information on Prop 65, please click here.

Our herbs and products are tested for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury using independent U.S. laboratories. The acceptable limits for daily intake are as follows:

• Arsenic content shall not exceed 0.01 milligrams per daily dose (10 micrograms per day)
• Cadmium content shall not exceed 0.006 mg/d (6 micrograms per day)
• Lead content shall not exceed 0.02 mg/d (20 micrograms per day)
• Mercury content shall not exceed 0.002 mg/d (2 micrograms per day)
• xxx

All of our products are within the safety guidelines stipulated by the American National Standards Institute/National Sanitation Foundation International Dietary Supplement Standard 173 (ANSI 173).

Pesticides

We do spot testing for pesticides in third-party labs to ensure the integrity of the organic certification of our partner farms.

The National Organics Program (NOP), is a regulatory program housed within the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service and is the gold standard in the United States for certified organic materials. A product is considered certified organic only after having been validated by an accredited certifying agency. All of our organic herbs and products are USDA certified organic.

Look for certification and the USDA seal on products labeled “organic.” It’s your assurance that the product has been grown and handled without harmful chemicals and pesticides, in accordance with the USDA’s strict organic standards.

Identification

Natural Relief uses the industry accepted practice of organoleptic testing for the proper identification of our botanicals. This involves the physical examination of the herbs using the senses of sight, taste, smell, and touch. Our staff includes recognized experts in the field of dietary supplement herb identification. In addition, qualified botanist conduct botanical verification of every species grown and also identify the species at the collection point. We use visual identification. Only on passing these tests do the plants proceed for further cleaning and drying.

Once dry, the herbs are subjected to tests in accordance with the cGMP Quality guidelines. 

Commitment to Excellence

All of our procedures at Natural Relief are in alignment with industry standards and in accordance with the FDA’s cGMPs (current Good Manufacturing Practices).

We are continually making improvements to our facility, systems, and procedures. We firmly believe that we are well ahead of the industry standards in all of these areas, and we intend to stay ahead.