(USP: Rockville, MD) -- A first-of-its kind collection of standards designed to assist dietary supplements manufacturers in providing quality products to consumers is being released today by the United States Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention. The USP Dietary Supplements Compendium (DSC) will also help manufacturers to comply with FDA-issued current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs). Under these practices, manufacturers are responsible for the quality of the ingredients they use in manufacturing their finished dietary supplements.

The DSC is a comprehensive resource containing quality specifications for dietary supplements and their ingredients. These quality specifications include standards for identity, strength, purity, and performance characteristics (e.g., dissolution, disintegration) of more than 500 dietary supplements and ingredients. In addition to these standards, the DSC includes general and regulatory information; guidance documents; appendices; and macro/microscopy, thin layer chromatography (TLC), and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) full-color images that greatly simplify the analysis of ingredients of botanical origin. This makes the DSC a central repository of necessary information for dietary supplements manufacturers.

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