Concerns and Support for Market Credibility

Natural Products New Zealand Expresses Concern and Support for Market Credibility

Natural Products New Zealand (NPNZ) is New Zealand’s newest association of Natural Products Manufacturers, Marketers and support companies to the industry, primarily focussed on co-operation and collaboration among NPNZ members to promote export trade in New Zealand’s natural products. NPNZ was formed with the support of Trade New Zealand.

Chairman Ron Geiger expressed concern for the market credibility of Australasian natural products in the wake of the revoking of Pan Pharmaceuticals Limited’s Good Manufacturing Practice License. “It is important to note that New Zealand has a different regulatory environment for natural products; here in New Zealand they are considered foods rather than medicines, and are predominately under the regulation of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority."

“However, this crisis highlights how important it is for all manufacturers and marketers of natural products to have in place credible quality systems and to adhere to them to ensure that their products can be supplied to local and overseas markets with confidence.”

For many of the products in the Natural Products field, particularly what are known as dietary supplements in this market or complementary medicines in Australia, export to other countries often requires a Good Manufacturing Practice Certification, preferably audited by an independent governmental organisation.

“While this certification is not now required within the New Zealand market, most serious exporters have made the commitment to obtain Good Manufacturing Practice Certification as granted by the New Zealand Ministry of Health Medsafe Division. This certification is often held alongside licenses from the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the New Zealand Food Safety Authority, and certifications for organic status by IFOAM Accredited third party auditors. We support third party auditing and certification.”

“While NPNZ understands the Australian TGA’s choice to err on the side of caution in calling for the recall of all products manufactured by Pan in the last year, many of these products are of relatively low risk. The proximate cause of the further scrutiny of Pan was not a natural product, but was an over-the-counter pharmaceutical product. To our knowledge, no natural health product had been the subject of a complaint in the period of further scrutiny, although some are now surfacing in Australia that shall have to be investigated for their merit.”

“We support the recall of any Pan-manufactured product in the New Zealand market, and are confident that our respected marketing companies not only have the records to identify any Pan product, that they also have the ability to trace these products to specific product names and batch codes.”

“At the end of the day, New Zealand natural product manufacturers and marketers are committed to provide people with safe, healthy benefits every day, and without the potentially harmful side-effects that can sometimes be associated with pharmaceutical drugs.”

“New Zealand products are a valuable part of New Zealand’s export economy as our products are exported all over Asia and the rest of the world. New Zealand has enjoyed a strong and growing natural product industry, and it is in our best interest to help support and develop it.”

“It is important to delineate that the core issue here is a rogue manufacturer not adhering to its own audited and approved quality assurance programme and effectively covering up its digressions; note the auditors’ difficulties in uncovering the lapses – which in the end they have. The system has worked, albeit more slowly than some would have hoped”

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