NSF to Perform Audits to New GRMA Standards

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – NSF and the Global Retailer and Manufacturer Alliance (GRMA) have signed an agreement for NSF to serve as a certifying body providing audits to GRMA member suppliers. The agreement is the culmination of conversations that began between the two organizations at the founding of the GRMA in 2014.

“Since the GRMA’s inception, the goal has been to standardize the metrics for evaluating compliance across the supply chain,” said David Trosin, Managing Director of Health Sciences Certification at NSF. “With the finalization of the three standards for dietary supplements, cosmetics/personal care products and over-the-counter drug products, NSF is now poised to complete audits to the various standards used in the development of the GRMA certification program.”

“The GRMA has made great strides in increasing efficiencies and reducing costs for its members by identifying costly inconsistencies across the various conformance standards required by multiple manufacturers and developing a single, more comprehensive harmonized standard,” said Trosin. “This will have a significant positive impact on manufacturers by reducing the number of audits and total audit days. As a result, manufacturers can look forward to as little as one audit per site per year, with results accepted by any GRMA member.”

The GRMA has developed a certification program to harmonize multiple standards in three product categories, defining a consistent approach for Good Manufacturing Practices for manufacturers. The certification program utilizes the NSF/ANSI 455 standards that encompass relevant regulations, retailer requirements and industry best practices. The applicable regulations serve as a baseline for each standard.

The GRMA will centralize the resultant data for its members, to further alleviate duplication of effort and streamline data flow for members.

“The GRMA is excited to expand our collaboration within industry and are especially thankful for the support NSF has provided to GRMA since its inception,” said GRMA Chairman Mike Finamore.

“NSF has demonstrated a commitment to raising the bar for the industry and has helped the GRMA establish a certification program focused on consumer safety and trust,” said Allyn Shultis, GRMA Treasurer.

For information about NSF’s health sciences services, please contact dietarysupplements@nsf.org. Please direct media inquiries to Ken Bearden at media@nsf.org or +1.734.769.5167.

NSF is an independent, global organization that facilitates standards development, and tests, audits and certifies products for the food, water, health sciences, sustainability and consumer goods industries to minimize adverse health effects and protect the environment. With operations in 110 countries, NSF is committed to protecting human health and safety worldwide. NSF is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center on Food Safety, Water Quality and Indoor Environment.

NSF’s health sciences services include training and education, consulting, clinical research, regulatory guidance, corporate compliance and, separately, auditing, GMP and GLP analytical testing, DNA testing, certification and R&D for the pharma biotech, medical device, dietary supplement and bottled water/beverage industries throughout the product lifecycle. NSF facilitated the development of the only American National Standard (NSF/ANSI 173) that verifies the health and safety of dietary supplements and also tests and certifies products to this standard.

For information on the GRMA visit us at https://grmalliance.org/. For any questions on membership and certification, please contact us at generalinquiries@grmalliance.org.

The Global Retailer and Manufacturer Alliance (GRMA) is a global nonprofit certification program owner (CPO) with members from most major retailers, manufacturers, trade associations and certification bodies. The alliance was formed to develop an auditing scheme that utilized consensus-based quality system standards for Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) through the American National Standards process in several health and wellness-related industries. As a CPO, we provide an additional layer of oversight to certification bodies to improve consumer confidence and are committed to:

• Strengthening safety, quality and trust throughout the supply chain
• Ensuring consistency and proper training of auditors
• Reducing the number of audits and financial costs associated with audits
• Combining regulatory requirements and retailer quality requirements
• Having all certifying bodies able to certify to the new standards