Dietary Supplements
Quality Management Software for Dietary Supplement Companies Automates Processes Essential to Good Manufacturing Practices
On June 1, 2008, the FDA’s Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) rule for dietary supplements went into effect for companies having more than 500 employees. The staggered phase-in for smaller companies is as follows:
- June 1, 2009 for companies having between 21 and 499 employees
- June 1, 2010 for companies having fewer than 20 employees
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Regulatory Requirements for Manufacturers of Dietary Supplements
The FDA-issued GMP rule for dietary supplements (21 CFR Part 111) specifies quality requirements for assuring that dietary supplements are produced in a quality manner, are free of contaminants or impurities, and are accurately labeled. The regulation also requires companies involved in the manufacture, packaging, labeling, or holding of dietary supplements to maintain records and make them available for inspection by the FDA when requested to do so (section 111.610 of subpart P).
Dietary Supplement Quality Challenges
To ensure that the good manufacturing practices specified by the FDA are met, a company involved in the manufacturing, packaging, labeling, or holding of dietary supplements must address a number of challenges, including:
- Inefficient Quality System: Establishing good manufacturing practices and maintaining records for manufacturing operations, customer complaints, corrective actions, deviations and nonconformances, employee competencies, etc., can be extremely challenging without an automated quality control system that integrates and documents the various quality processes.
- Disconnected Processes: Quality processes that are not connected to one another can lead to delays and poor results. For example, a corrective action system that's not connected to the rest of the quality system may produce an unreliable root cause investigation due to inadequate information. In contrast, a corrective action system that is connected to detailed customer complaint and product investigation records ensures an effective corrective action process.
- Unprepared for a GMP Inspection by the FDA: During an FDA inspection, companies must be able to quickly access their records in order to prove that, for example, customer complaints regarding a product defect were properly investigated. As part of this process, companies must also be able to show that the necessary corrective action(s) were taken, the relevant SOPs were updated, employees affected by the updated SOPs were retrained, etc. Without a unified quality control system for automating and tracking the appropriate actions, it can be very difficult to quickly access records—or, worse, access them at all.
MasterControl Integrated Quality Management Software Solution
MasterControl’s integrated quality management suite is a configurable, easy-to-use solution that can help dietary supplement companies attain and sustain compliance with FDA GMP regulations by automating the management of quality processes in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
MasterControl applications ensure the integrity of documents, manufacturing operations, and corrective actions. They also automate training of employees, documenting employee competencies, and performing other critical functions necessary for ensuring compliance to the GMP rule.














