The Pure Probiotic Initiative:
Bringing effective products to your door: Probiotic shipping

By Kelly Heim, Ph.D.

Strategic temperature control, applied throughout every phase of handling and manufacturing, is a cornerstone of probiotic quality assurance. By necessity, shipping methodology must be optimized to deliver a fully viable product to the customer. Through the following practices, Pure Encapsulations ensures full label claim potency upon delivery:

• Strategic formulation. When developing probiotics, we anticipate unplanned exposures to heat during transit. To maximize stability, we take great care to select hardy strains. If necessary, capsules may be overfilled to ensure that potency is maintained in the event of prolonged exposure in shipment.
• Temperature and humidity control during manufacturing. As handling and manufacturing practices impact the stability of the finished product, a comprehensive dedication to protecting each ingredient and product, from start to finish, remains a fundamental aspect of Pure Encapsulations’ probiotic quality assurance promise.
• Timely shipping. We ship probiotics via UPS for 2nd day delivery. To avoid potential exposure to heat over the weekend, probiotics are never shipped on a Thursday or Friday.
• Cold packaging. All probiotics, including shelf-stable products, are shipped in insulated coolers with foam refrigerant bricks. Real-time temperature monitoring tests have confirmed the superior cooling performance of foam bricks over standard ice packs.
• Independent laboratory testing. All finished products are tested for potency following shipping to 3rd party laboratories without cold packs. Despite the warm package environment, testing routinely verifies full label claim potency.

Pure Encapsulations’ manufacturing and shipping methods ensure that products retain their potency even if exposed to warm temperatures over several days. In a small shipping study, probiotics were packaged with either a foam refrigerant brick or a standard gel ice pack and shipped via 2nd-day delivery to an independent laboratory located in a hot climate. Temperature logging devices within each box indicated that the refrigerant durability of the foam brick was superior to a standard ice pack. Importantly, the foam brick sustained a cool package environment over a 45-hour period. After that point, the package interior began to warm considerably, but this did not compromise the potency of the products.

Pure Encapsulations’ probiotic quality assurance encompasses sourcing, formulation, manufacturing, testing and shipping to deliver clinically reliable products to your door. Our long-standing commitment and promise enables you to remain confident in the potency and quality of every finished probiotic product, regardless of the time of year.