Education & training
In an effort to help our members and the global dietary supplement industry be fully compliant with all U.S. regulatory requirements and up-to-date on best practices, UNPA offers a variety of training courses and hosts regular conferences. Here you will find information regarding upcoming UNPA education and training opportunities—including new onsite training courses — as well as information regarding important regulatory requirements.
A few examples of the types of training offered by unpa
Preventive Controls Qualified Individual Training
The United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) provides Preventive Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI) training for food and dietary supplement companies.
The PCQI trainings provides exercises specific to food and dietary supplements and dietary ingredients. The Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance (FSPCA) developed the course, which is the “standardized curriculum” recognized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
At the end of this training program, participants will:
- Receive a PCQI certificate of training
- Understand Good Manufacturing Practices and Prerequisite Programs
- Conduct hazard analysis and determine preventive controls Implement process, allergen, sanitation and supply-chain preventive controls
- Implement verification, validation, recall and recordkeeping requirements
- Develop and implement a Food Safety Plan for their production facility.
A food company, brand holder or contract manufacturer that manufactures, packages, holds or distributes a food product using a Nutrition Facts panel is required to have a PCQI. This includes natural products and functional foods, such as protein shakes and 'power' bars.
Dietary Ingredients (raw material) are classified as a food and therefore, ingredient suppliers are subject to the full requirements. These suppliers include companies providing botanical powders used in dietary supplements, such as echinacea, gingko, and others. Any company distributing a dietary supplement would be expected to qualify their suppliers of these ingredients to ensure they are compliant with the new regulation.
Companies and products using the Supplement Facts panel are required to ensure that all of their ingredient suppliers—including all foreign suppliers—have at least one PCQI on staff. Therefore, it is highly recommended that each finished supplement manufacturer or distributor be fully educated about PCQI so that they can qualify their entire supply chain as required by FSMA to eliminate or prevent hazards from being introduced into the food supply.
foreign supplier verification programs
Foreign Supplier Verification Programs Course for Foods and Dietary Supplements
(two-day course)
Do you import ingredients?
This course is designed to help participants understand the role of food importers under the new Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) rule, part of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).
Foods covered under the new rule include dietary ingredients, raw materials used in dietary supplements and natural products marketed with a Nutrition Facts panel as a food product.
The training covers the FSVP requirements for dietary supplements, including for raw materials distributors, manufacturers/processors importing components, and for those importing finished products from foreign suppliers.
Many importers are already outside of compliance with this law!
This regulation imposes sweeping new changes on food importers and requires the review and assessment of the food safety practices of foreign suppliers and their compliance history. Foreign suppliers must be approved by importers pursuant to a written program before sourcing. FDA’s regulation also requires new information to be submitted for customs entries: the FSVP importer—the person responsible for FSVP compliance—must now be declared for each importation of FDA-regulated food (including dietary supplements) unless exempt.
This course will provide participants with the knowledge to implement the requirements of the FSVP regulation. including:
- Determining known or reasonably foreseeable hazards with each food imported
- Evaluating the risk posed by the food (based on a hazard analysis and foreign supplier’s performance)
- Using that evaluation to approve suppliers
- Conducting supplier verification activities
- Maintaining documents that are required to demonstrate compliance with the regulation.