CytoSport Inc., a manufacturer of sports-oriented nutritional products, announced that Muscle Milk (Vanilla Crème, Chocolate and Cookies ‘N Crème) has earned certification from NSF International’s Athletic Banned Substances Certification program.
The NSF Certified for Sport program is designed to reduce the risk that a dietary or sports supplement contains banned substances.
The NSF Certified for Sport program was developed in response to growing demands by athletes, coaches, team owners and others concerned about finding banned substances in sports nutrition products.
NSF International’s Certified for Sport program is recognized by the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and the PGA, among other major sports organizations.
“It has been our mission to provide only the highest quality nutritional products to both professional and amateur athletes striving to reach their potential. For over 11 years, CytoSport has manufactured high quality, efficacious products and this certification from NSF International solidifies that mission,” said Chris Kildow, director of sports marketing, CytoSport.
CytoSport’s Certified for Sport approval complements CytoSport’s existing NSF International Dietary Supplements and NSF Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for Sport Certifications.To receive these certifications, CytoSport underwent a stringent testing analysis, a GMP facility audit and banned substances screening. CytoSport also met the requirements of NSF/ANSI Standard 173, the only American national standard for dietary supplements, which NSF developed to address the safe manufacturing of dietary supplements.
The NSF standard includes criteria for testing products for contaminants and heavy metals,verifying that what’s on the label is in the bottle and auditing manufacturing facilities to ensure they operate using GMPs. In addition, NSF’s GMP for Sport certification component requires two annual GMP for Sport facility audits and manufacturer affidavits to verify that CytoSport does not source any ingredients on the World Anti-Doping Agency, NFL, MLB, and CCES banned substances lists.
NSF International Certification also requires ongoing monitoring and testing to verify that certified products remain free of contaminants and banned substances, including stimulants, narcotics, steroids, diuretics, beta-2-agonists, masking agents and other substances.