美國保健品零售商宣佈更嚴格質量標準

GNC, the country’s largest specialty retailer of dietary supplements, has agreed to institute sweeping new testing procedures that far exceed quality controls mandated under federal law.

全美最大的膳食補充劑專業零售商GNC已經同意採用全新的測試流程，其質量控制標準將遠超聯邦法律的強制要求。

The action to be announced Monday comes after the New York state attorney general’s office accused GNC and three other major retailers of selling herbal supplements that were fraudulent or contaminated with unlisted ingredients that could pose health risks to consumers.

該公司本週一宣佈開展此項行動。之前紐約州總檢察長辦公室曾指控GNC以及其他三家主要的零售商售賣的草本保健品存在欺詐，或受到標籤中未註明的成分的污染，可能會對消費者健康造成不利影響。

Experts said the announcement marked an initial but significant step forward for the $33 billion-a-year supplement industry, which is loosely regulated and plagued by accusations of adulteration and mislabeling.

專家表示，該公司此舉是一個初步行動，但對於每年330億美元規模的保健品行業卻意義重大。這個行業面臨的監管頗爲寬鬆，摻假和亂貼標籤的指控令其聲譽大受損失。

“This should be a standard across the entire industry,” said Dr. Pieter Cohen, a professor at Harvard Medical School who studies tainted supplements. “Today we finally have one first step taken by one retailer, and only after the very aggressive intervention by the New York attorney general’s office.”

“這應該成爲整個行業的標準，”哈佛大學醫學院教授彼得·科恩(Pieter Cohen)博士說，他研究過受污染的膳食補充劑。“現在，在紐約總檢察長辦公室非常積極的干預之後，零售商總算才採取了第一步行動。”

GNC, which has more than 6,500 stores nationwide and annual revenue of $2.6 billion, said that its herbal products had passed several rigorous quality-control tests and that it stood by their quality. But as part of its agreement with the attorney general, the company said it would in the next 18 months put in place additional quality-control measures to restore the trust of its customers and set new standards for the rest of the industry.

GNC在全國擁有6500家門店，年營收逾26億美元。該公司說其草本產品已通過多次的嚴格質量控制測試，其質量是可靠的。但鑑於和總檢察長簽署的一份協議，該公司表示它將在未來18個月採取額外的質量控制措施，重新獲得顧客的信賴，爲行業中的其他公司設定新的標準。

The company said it would use advanced DNA testing to authenticate all of the plants that are used in its store-brand herbal supplements, and extensively test the products for common allergens like tree nuts, soy and wheat. In addition, GNC will submit semiannual reports proving that it is complying with the attorney general’s demands.

該公司表示，它將利用先進的DNA測試技術，來鑑定其自有品牌的草本保健品中所用植物的真假，並且大量測試常見的過敏原，比如堅果、大豆和小麥等等。此外，GNC將每半年提交一次報告，以便證明它在遵循總檢察長的要求行事。

The company said it would also display signs at all of its stores and post statements on its website explaining to customers how the ingredients in its supplements were processed and what, if any, chemical solvents were used to make them.

該公司還表示將在所有商店裏擺放標誌，並在其網站上張貼聲明，向消費者解釋其補充劑的成分是怎樣進行處理的，如果生產過程中使用了化學溶劑的話，又包括那些溶劑。

Eric T. Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, would not comment on whether he was in talks to reach similar agreements with the other retailers included in his investigation — Walgreens, Wal-Mart and Target. But, in a statement, Schneiderman said he had urged those retailers, “as well as all herbal supplements manufacturers, to join GNC in working with my office to increase transparency and safeguard the wellness of their customers.”

對於是否正在與其他受調查零售商-——沃爾格林(Walgreens)、沃爾瑪(Wal-Mart)和塔吉特(Target)——會談，以便達成類似的協議，紐約州總檢察長埃裏克·T·施耐德曼(Eric T. Schneiderman) 不予置評。但是，在一份聲明中，施耐德曼說，他曾敦促零售商“以及所有草本保健品生產商像GNC一樣和我的辦公室合作，增加透明度，保障顧客的健康。”

The attorney general’s investigation was prompted by a 2013 article in The New York Times that referred to research suggesting that dietary supplements labeled medicinal herbs frequently contained little more than cheap fillers like powdered rice and weeds, or evidence of soybeans, tree nuts and other unlisted ingredients that can be hazardous to people with allergies.

《紐約時報》2013年的一篇文章引發了總檢察長的這項調查。該文章稱，研究表明膳食補充劑雖然在標籤上標明瞭草本藥材，實際上只不過是粉狀大米和雜草這樣的廉價填充料，或是含有大豆、堅果以及其他未列明的成分，對於過敏人羣來說這是很危險的。

The attorney general’s office tested 78 bottles of popular, store-brand herbal supplements that it purchased at a dozen Wal-Mart, Target, Walgreens and GNC locations across New York state. Using an advanced DNA testing procedure, the investigators found that 4 out of 5 bottles contained no detectable genetic material from the plants advertised on their labels.

總檢察長辦公室測試了78瓶現在熱銷的自有品牌草本保健品，分別在紐約州各處十幾家沃爾瑪、塔吉特、沃爾格林和GNC門店購得。研究人員使用先進手段進行了DNA測試，但在每五瓶中，就有四瓶檢測不到標籤註明的植物成分的DNA。

But there was frequently evidence of unlisted plants and other ingredients. At GNC, for example, the investigators found bottles of ginseng pills, promoted for “vitality and overall well-being,” that tested negative for any DNA from the ginseng plant. But the tests did indicate the presence of powdered rice, wheat, pine and houseplants.

而測試中還經常發現一些標籤沒有列出的植物和其他成分。例如，在GNC聲稱可以“提高活力和整體元氣”的人蔘丸中，研究人員沒有檢測出任何人蔘DNA，但卻發現了粉狀大米、小麥、松樹和某些室內植物的成分。

Last month, the attorney general ordered the four retailers to pull the products from their shelves in New York, and a flood of lawsuits from consumers across the country followed.

上個月，總檢察長命令四家零售商從紐約貨架上撤下產品，全美各地消費者隨後發起的訴訟像洪水一般涌來。

The industry has countered that many of the supplements examined by the attorney general were herbal extracts, and that they would not contain DNA from the plants advertised on their labels because DNA is damaged during manufacturing and extraction.

該行業的業內人士反駁說，總檢察長檢查的很多膳食補充劑是草本精華，所以不會包含標籤中註明的植物DNA，因爲DNA已經在製造和提取過程中遭到破壞。

For GNC, the settlement satisfies the attorney general’s concerns about consumer safety and brings his investigation of the company to a close. The company has maintained all along that its products were not adulterated, and in the agreement with the attorney general there is no admission or mention of wrongdoing.

對於GNC來說，達成和解不僅滿足了總檢察長對於消費者安全的關注，而且也給他對該公司的調查畫上了句號。該公司一直堅稱其產品沒有摻假，總檢察長的協議中沒有提到不法行爲，該公司也未承認有不法行爲。

The company said that it had commissioned a series of tests that confirmed the quality of its products, and that it would continue to defend against the many lawsuits it is facing, which it said were without merit.

該公司表示，它已經委託其他機構進行了一系列測試，證實其產品的質量是可信的，它將繼續迎戰其面臨的大量訴訟；該公司表示這些訴訟缺乏法律依據。

“As our testing demonstrated, and this agreement affirms beyond any doubt, our products are not only safe and pure but are in full compliance with all regulatory requirements,” Michael G. Archbold, GNC’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.

“我們的測試證明，GNC的產品不僅安全純淨，而且完全符合所有監管要求，這個協議毫無疑問這證實了這一點。”GNC公司首席執行官邁克爾·G·阿奇博爾德(Michael G. Archbold)在一份聲明中表示。