Baseball Works With NSF To Offer Players Certified, Drug-Free Supplements
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Major League Baseball teams will be selling players supplements certified as free of banned substances through a partnership with NSF International
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Major League Baseball teams will be selling players supplements certified as free of banned substances through a partnership with NSF International. The supplements will be certified through NSF's Athletic Banned Substances Certification Program. NSF officially unveiled the certification program and announced the partnership March 7. However, the third-party testing firm previously provided details of the program during the SupplySide West tradeshow in November (1 (Also see "New NSF Certification Program Tests For Extensive List Of Banned Substances" - Pink Sheet, 12 Dec, 2005.), p. 5). Unlike NSF's program with the National Football league and the NFL Players Association, the new program is not attached to any specific sport. Products certified under the program will be tested for a comprehensive list of substances banned by national athletic associations, and thus are applicable to all sports at both professional and amateur levels. The certified products will be listed on the NSF website and bear a new NSF mark: a blue NSF seal stating "Certified for Sport" and 2 www.nsf.org/ below. No supplements have been certified under the new program thus far. However, a number of Utah Natural Products Association members have already contacted NSF about product certification, according to NSF Dietary Supplement & Functional Foods Certification Program General Manager Kathleen Jordan. The first supplements to carry the NSF Certified for Sport mark are expected to be available this spring. The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport is anticipated to recommend the program in the "near future," possibly as soon as April, according to NSF. The program likely will be adopted on a global level, Jordan said following her testimony at the March 9 House Committee on Government Reform hearing. Both the National Nutritional Foods Association and the Council for Responsible Nutrition applauded the NSF program. The initiative also shows MLB's recognition of the importance of dietary supplements for athletes, CRN noted. - Katia Fowler |