The European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance (ESSNA) has announced that leading sports nutrition companies MP Bio Science and General Nutrition Corporation (GNC) have joined its membership.
MP Bio Science, one of the UK’s largest independent sports supplement manufacturers, and GNC, a leading global specialty retailer of health and wellness products, become the latest companies to commit themselves to ESSNA’s core values of ‘the highest safety standards and upholding EU regulations on the content and labelling of sports nutrition products.’
This latest pair of member additions follows DCC Health and Beauty and Healthspark joining ESSNA in recent weeks.
ESSNA is the voice of the sports nutrition industry in dialogue with regulators, policy makers, the media and consumers. Its work focuses on campaigning in favour of proportionate EU legislation, which does not adversely affect the sports nutrition sector, as well as monitoring and reporting irresponsible companies that flout EU law for commercial advantage and may put consumers at potential risk from dangerous products.
In the 12 months since its announcement that it is to expand on its historic campaigning role to become a trade body for the EU sports nutrition sector, ESSNA has almost doubled its initial membership, bringing its total number up to 42.
Dr Adam Carey, Chair of ESSNA, said “ESSNA’s membership has grown rapidly over the last 12 months and this is a reflection of how seriously the industry takes EU regulations and the need to protect consumers from dangerous and illegal products. We are delighted to welcome MP Bio Science and GNC to this group and hope others in the industry will follow their example.
“We remain absolutely committed to identifying those businesses that are failing to meet their responsibilities and ensuring their compliance with EU law. The European sports nutrition industry continues to flourish and, just like consumers, must be protected.”
Ross McManus, Managing Director of MP Bio Science said “MP Bio Science are delighted to join ESSNA and to be a part of the highly respected voice of sports nutrition organisations that continually strives to maintain incredibly high standards within this industry. Our integrity has always been and shall remain a high priority for us.”
He continued, “Sports nutrition continues to evolve. Legislation progresses and changes. So being an ESSNA member will enable us to actively uphold and protect the reputation of and further promote the industry. It will also give our end customers continued assurances and a greater understanding of regulation compliancy and its imperativeness.”
Tom Dowd, GNC’s Executive Vice President, Chief Merchandising Officer & General Manager, said “We are excited to introduce our best-in-class health, wellness and sports nutrition products to the UK customer through our Discount Supplements subsidiary, which is a leader in the UK’s sports nutrition market.
“We know that UK consumers want sports nutrition products built to the highest quality standards, and we look forward to a partnership with ESSNA that allows us to offer exceptional products to a market that is clearly ready for them.”
Dr Guru Ramanathan, GNC’s Chief Innovation Officer, added “GNC shares ESSNA’s passion and dedication for ensuring excellence in standards in the sports nutrition industry in Europe. GNC maintains its leadership in the global nutritional supplement industry by demanding truth in labelling, ingredient safety and product potency, all while remaining on the cutting-edge of nutritional science.”
The European Specialist Sports Nutrition Alliance is an alliance of European sports nutrition companies that was formed in December 2003.
Members of the Alliance include Adams Food Ingredients, Aminolabs, Body Temple UK, CLF Distribution, First Milk, Future Nutrition, Iovate Health Sciences, Kinetica, Mass Nutrition Kostexperten, Maxinutrition, myprotein.co.uk, Natrol, NSF, Prometeus, Sci-MX Nutrition, Sports Supplements, Tropicana Health and Fitness, US Nutrition, USN UK, Volac, Weider Germany, NBTY Europe, BodyBuilding.com, Glanbia Performance Nutrition, PhD Nutrition, CytoSport UK, Future Nutrition, Arla Foods Ingredients, Athlete King Sports Nutrition Ltd, BULK POWDERS, Grenade, Vitamin Center, High5, DCC Health and Beauty, Healthspark, MP Bio Science and General Nutrition Corporation (GNC).
Associate members of the Alliance include HFMA (The UK Health Food Manufacturers’ Association), Weider Publishing, Fitnessboutique, LGC, Cambridge Commodities and Healthy Inspirations.
