Alkemist Labs, Costa Mesa, CA, has launched a program to educate the industry on the ins and outs of successful product testing in light of increased emphasis from ingredient suppliers and manufacturers. Topics the company has addressed include criteria for choosing a testing lab, why products fail tests and how to minimize confusion, how phytochemical reference standards support GMP compliance, and a number of other facets of testing designed to help companies be smarter consumers of testing services.
 
“We’re seeing a lot of companies that have not had robust testing programs begin to raise the bar on quality by instituting more comprehensive testing in response to the changing landscape,” said Elan Sudberg, CEO of Alkemist Labs. “It’s a very good thing to increase quality assurance, but we’ve seen many companies that are at the beginning of the learning curve who could benefit from the education we are providing.”
 
Among Alkemist’s educational offerings is the “Sid Talks Testing” column by Dr. Sidney Sudberg, founder and CSO, in the Alkemist monthly newsletter “Lab Notes.” Each month Sid offers clarification on a potentially confusing aspect of product testing. In April he explained that “uncertainty of measurement” in the testing world actually helps minimize uncertainty. In May he discussed how to handle a failed sample, and how to navigate the learning curve involved.
 
The company also released a series of short, informative videos, produced by The Shelton Group, which describe how testing labs impact GMP compliance, how to choose a testing lab and considerations when testing botanicals.
 
Another aspect of testing many companies need help in understanding is the use of phytochemical reference standards, and Alkemist is helping with that important component, too. Phytochemical standards are pure substances existing in and mostly derived from plants for which chemical structure has been determined and for which purity has been accurately measured.In April Alkemist became the U.S. distributor for Extrasynthese of Lyon, France, a world-wide leader in phytochemical standards. Alkemist has a dedicated expert, Petra Erlandson,to guide customers through the process of incorporating these standards into their testing programs. Alkemist is developing language customers can use in their marketing materials to explain how the use of these standards helps guarantee product quality.