Before You Toss Away That Cotton... 

It’s often the little things that make the biggest difference. Before joining the Thorne team, I had the opportunity to tour Thorne’s manufacturing facility in Sandpoint, Idaho.

As a sports dietitian for more than a decade, I had visited my fair share of similar production facilities. At Thorne, however, I was truly impressed with their commitment to quality throughout the entire manufacturing process. And there was one otherwise seemingly small detail, in particular, that told the Thorne story as well as any other part of my visit.

At one point, our tour group was directed toward the quarantine area of Thorne's production warehouse, where every ingredient initially resides when it enters the facility until it passes Thorne’s rigorous quality testing. A member of our tour pointed to a section of the quarantine area and asked our host, “What is that doing here?” Our tour host answered without a second thought, “Oh, that’s the cotton that goes into the bottles.” That struck a chord with me.

I would have never thought to consider quarantining and testing the cotton, which I throw away without a second thought of contamination when I open a bottle. But Thorne does.

That’s the level of detail and commitment to quality that loyal customers have come to expect from Thorne. Our tour host didn’t think to emphasize this particular step that Thorne takes to ensure safe products for their clients because it's the only way she has ever known. That is the Thorne difference – ensuring quality and purity always, above all else.

How Much Testing is Enough?

Thorne tests more than 1,900 raw ingredients each year in its $1.7 million in-house laboratories, investing five percent of sales back into quality assurance and quality control. With 38 staff members – approximately 15 percent of Thorne’s work force – the Quality Control Department is one of the largest at Thorne.

Once raw materials enter the facility and pass initial analysis for identification, quality, and purity, each raw material is tested again to ensure there are no hidden ingredients, and only then does the manufacturing process begin. In the middle of manufacturing the unfinished product is tested for homogeneity (to ensure each capsule will contain the specified formula), and is tested again for identity to prevent any hidden ingredients from entering the finished supplement.

Finally, every finished product is tested for microbial and other contaminants and to ensure the purity and potency of the ingredients have been maintained throughout the production process.

For some products intended for use by professional and Olympic athletes, an additional round of testing is done through an independent third party, NSF-International, and is Certified for Sport®, meaning the product is tested for more than 200 substances that have been banned from athletic competition.

Beyond the Delivery

And Thorne doesn’t stop caring about you after you purchase their supplement products. Thorne also does stability testing on a product to make sure it’s as potent on the day of expiration as it was the first day it came off the line.

Many companies claim no expiration date for their products, or only put a manufacturing date on their products, because they either don’t have the capability to stability test their products or because they choose not to.

All Thorne products are tested for potency throughout their labeled shelf life, which allows Thorne to make the claim that their ingredients meet 100-percent of the ingredient’s label claim at the time of expiration.

We believe our customers deserve access to quality supplements that contain exactly what they say they do and nothing more. That’s the Thorne Difference – we go the extra mile to ensure quality and purity at every step of the production process and beyond so you don’t have to.