The Seatle Times reported that "in less than a decade, China has captured 90 percent of the U.S. market for vitamin C, driving almost everyone else out of business." According to an industry group, China also makes the bulk of vitamins A, B12, C and E. The problem is quality, corruption and public safety.  Jan Willem Roben of Vision Ingredients in Shanghai, a broker of food additives for export, stated simply: "Sometimes you enter a factory, and you say, 'I can't believe they produce food here.' It's dirty and the machines are old". The article also reported something telling...that the three-fifths of the Chinese themselves are concerned about the quality and safety of what they produce. Did multivitamin companies not share this concern or did they not care? The article goes on to explain that "U.S. laws don't require food and drug sellers to label products with the country of origin of ingredients, it's impossible for consumers to know where food or supplements are coming from, not to mention what factory produced them." As health professionals and consumers, we found these facts to be troubling.

In 2007,NPR reported that "lead-contaminated multivitamins showed up on the shelves of U.S. retailers" and "vitamin A from China contaminated with dangerous bacteria nearly ended up in European baby food".The previous year, cough syrup contaminated with diethylene glycol (main ingredient of some anti-freeze) killed and sickened thousands in Panama. According to the New York Times, this showed "how China’s safety regulations have lagged behind its growing role as low-cost supplier to the world."  As we witnessed the health of consumers being placed in the hands of totalitarians and "low-cost suppliers", we felt the need to take action. As a nutrition company built on serving health professionals and their patients, we wanted to create a high quality multivitamin multi-mineral supplement consumers could trust. It's taken two years to get to where we can actually make a China Free guarantee.  Some vendors asked why we were asking about China. "No other companies were." Given the quality issues that emerged from China during this time, we knew our customers wouldn’t accept a multivitamin that wasn’t China free.

Unfortunately, American consumers can’t rely on the FDA to protect them from contaminated ingredients from China. William Hubbard, former senior associate commissioner at the FDA explained to NPR in 2007 that "with 13 million food imports last year and only several hundred inspectors, the FDA was able to look at only about 1 percent of shipments at U.S. ports. And it rarely looks at food ingredients at all – such as the Chinese imports of wheat gluten (a protein in wheat) associated with the melamine contamination." What's more, US law treats supplements like food and allows them to go straight to market. No FDA approval is required and it can only intervene after consumers get sick or a safety issues comes to light. Consumers are left to rely on the good intentions and "values" of companies who entrusted your health to China -- and the Chinese government. We offer consumers another choice and a clearer standard for quality. We're not asking you to take a political stand based on China’s human rights abuses or labor practices. OPURITY is simply inviting you to take an informed stand for your health. Before you put it into your body, know where it's from.  

Those of us who take a multivitamin "just to be sure", according to an ABC News story, "may have new reasons to doubt what's inside that pill or capsule."  A report by ConsumerLab.com in 2007 "revealed that more than half of the multivitamins tested did not contain what the label claimed: Either the nutrient levels fell short or exceeded what was safe." Researchers randomly selected 21 multivitamins off the shelf and "only 10 met the stated claims on the label or satisfied other quality standards."  In 2009, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on  similar research that showed "a 'high potency' iron supplement contained less than half the amount claim. Of 23 top-selling vitamin C pills, one provided less than half the amount promised; the suggested dosages of some others were beyond recommended safe levels. Of 10 vitamin A supplements, one provided twice its stated amount, raising concern about toxic side effects."

The New York Times reported that Chinese officials knew milk was contaminated and failed to alert the public months before the melamine scandal broke. According to the NY Times article, "Melamine has often been used in China as a cheap additive to cheat on quality tests, because its nitrogen content can falsely inflate protein scores." A few weeks prior to this story, China arrested three other people selling melamine contaminated milk powder. Given the unwillingness of the Chinese to communicate these health dangers to the public -- its only natural to question the products we consume that come from China.