What is NASC? (National Animal Supplement Council)

What Is NASC and What Does It Do?

If you’ve ever noticed an NASC label on your pet’s food and wondered about its significance, here’s an explanation for you. The National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) is dedicated to ensuring the highest-quality products for pets, service animals, and other animal companions. NASC focuses specifically on health supplements, and companies undergo a rigorous process to ensure their products meet the organization’s high standards.

Your vet may have recommended a health supplement for your pet. If you want to ensure that it comes from a quality source, read on to learn about how the NASC operates and its mission to promote excellent health for all kinds of animal friends.

What Is the NASC?

The NASC is a nonprofit organization that has been operating since 2001 with the mission of “protecting and enhancing the health of companion animals and horses throughout the United States.”

The organization works toward establishing consistent regulations on both state and federal levels, so that products carrying the NASC Quality Seal can provide the same level of guarantee throughout the United States. Over the years, it has garnered a membership of manufacturers who commit to adhering to NASC Quality System requirements. This system follows strict policies, standards, and guidelines, including Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), to ensure safe, effective, and highest-quality products.

What Does NASC Do?

NASC provides pet parents with the utmost confidence in reliable, high-quality health supplements. They ensure that consumers don’t have to worry about where the product was made, whether the ingredients are safe, and if the product’s manufacturing process was safe.

In the more than 20 years since its inception, NASC has developed rigorous methods and regulations to remove hazardous products from retail shelves and to subject manufacturers to stringent scrutiny. Working in conjunction with regulators from across the United States, NASC has successfully established standards for animal health supplements that are considered “fair, reasonable, responsible, and nationally consistent.”

What Is the NASC Quality Seal?

When you come across a supplement bearing the NASC Quality Seal, it indicates that the manufacturer has met the rigorous standards required. To provide potential customers an assurance about the reliability, safety, and effectiveness of a supplement, companies go through an application process to become an NASC member company and earn the privilege of displaying the seal on their product.

NASC aims to establish a national standard that all member companies must adhere to, regardless of where the product originates. This entails following the NASC Quality System and undergoing an independent, third-party audit every two years. The audit ensures compliance with the following key aspects:

• A quality control manual, outlining standard operating procedures, to ensure consistent production of reliable, safe products.
• Implementation of a system to address complaints and adverse events that may occur due to the consumption of a product by animals.
• Strict adherence to labeling guidelines, including mandatory warnings for specific ingredients. These guidelines are provided by the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (FDA-CVM) and the NASC Scientific Advisory Committee.

Manufacturers are also subject to random product testing by independent laboratories.

When you spot the NASC label on a supplement for your pet, you can rest assured that the company behind it has diligently followed all the necessary rules, made required adjustments, and consulted relevant authorities to create the best possible product for maintaining and enhancing your pet’s health.

What Products Have the NASC Quality Seal?

Do you or your furry family member have a favorite supplement? Chewy offers several brands featuring the NASC Quality Seal. These brands include Alaska Naturals, Dr. Harvey’s, Earth Animal Ventures, and Grizzly Pet Products. For a comprehensive list of NASC member companies, you can visit their website.

How can you know if the supplement you love carries the NASC Quality Seal? It appears prominently on the packaging in bright yellow, making it hard to miss! That’s proof that NASC wants you to know the product you’re giving your pet has met the highest standards of quality.

Should You Only Buy Products With the NASC Quality Seal?

While Chewy offers plenty of great products that don’t carry the NASC Quality Seal, it doesn’t mean that they are unsafe or unhealthy for your pet. These products may have met a different set of standards, and if you have any questions, doubts, or concerns, just ask your vet or do some research into the brand. Chewy ensures its own high standard for the brands it partners with, and if you have questions, just ask!

Featured Image: iStock.com/Snizhana Galytska