Sage product first in UK to show quality mark
The mark has been designed by the government regulatory body, MHRA, to guarantee a product has been registered but its use is not compulsory. Firms can choose whether to include the THR mark on their registered products.
Bio-Health’s marketing director June Crisp maintains the use of this certification mark means consumers will identify its Salvian product as a herbal medicine made to the highest of standards.
“Consumers like to know what the product does and also want assurance regarding its quality and safety. The mark is a validation of the rigorous testing the product has undergone,” she told NutraIngredients.com
Crisp said that Bio-Health has always been a great supporter of the registration scheme, and she claims that without such regulation, there is the potential for sub-standard products to come onto the market which is bad for consumers and bad for the industry.
Salvian is the second Bio-Health product to be MHRA registered, and according to the marketing director, the company has benefitted hugely from THMPD registration for a valerian product with its sales doubling since validation last July.
Crisp revealed that the company expects the pending THR registration for its St John’s wort product to come through early in the new year.
She added that some major herbal product suppliers had not yet begun the process of registering their products and wondered what they were waiting for with the deadline fast approaching.
All herbal products making medicinal claims must register under the rule by 2011.
In addition to the claims potential of a product registration, the THMPD dictates that all herbal products not classified as food supplements (like many 'spice rack' herbs such as garlic and sage) or those considered medicines, must gain THMPD registration by April 2011 to legally remain on market.
Germany and the UK have been the most active of the European Union's 27 member states to date.
Bio-Health employs 20 staff and has annual revenue of about €1.2m.
