The Luci wears Prada - Maybe Not

A large percentage – how large, I couldn’t decipher from Google searches - of the durable goods that we buy in the U.S. are made in China. Some of them - especially pet food, toothpaste, seafood, and toys - are dangerous. Now, according to this article, some European luxury goods are made there, too. What's next? Politicians?

Well, the "good" side of all of this is that it makes returning things-made-in-China a lot easier. If something doesn't work or it's too difficult to put together or you don't like the color or you simply don't want it anymore, just remind the store clerk of the fact that it came from China.

Quest for Source of Member's Mark® CoEnzyme Q10

I was on a quest.

I’ve been consuming CoEnzyme Q10 (in this case, Member's Mark® Co Q10 50 mg-160 ct. for quite a while), since it is allegedly good for my heart. But after hearing about all of those tainted products from China ... from cat food (not that I eat any of that) to fish, I became concerned about what was in this particular supplement. The bottle states that it is laboratory tested, but it doesn’t state WHICH laboratory. So that’s when I began wondering if the product was from China.

I found the product on the internet site mypatienteducation.com. So on Friday, August 3, 2007, I emailed customerservice@mypatienteducation.com with the question “Who makes & tests Member’s Mark Co Q-10 Dietary Supplement?” As of now, I have not received a reply. Somehow, I doubt if I ever will, since they are probably more interested in selling me something, than in telling me what I need to know.

On Friday, August 3, 2007, I also filled in a Sam's Club on-line request for the name of the lab. On Monday, August 6, 2007, at 10:16AM, I received the following reply from Membership.Services@samsclub.com:

Roger,

Thank you for contacting Sams Club. Leiner.

Respectfully,

Tina
Sams Club Member Services
888-746-7726

I googled “Leiner” and found Leiner Health Products. According to this site, it is headquartered in Carson, California and has U.S. locations in Garden Grove, California and in Valencia, California and in Wilson, North Carolina and in Fort Mill, South Carolina. This website states that the product is marketed to Sam’s Club under the brand name “Members Mark”, so I assume it is their product.

Now Sam’s Club says the product is

Assembled Country of Origin:
USA

Components Country of Origin:
USA

Since Leiner Health Products has four U.S. locations (plus its headquarters), I still don’t know which particular one is the laboratory. But I guess that I can be sure that the product is NOT from China. So I’m safe... I hope. I just wonder why the specific lab isn’t stated on the bottle’s label. I do hope that the “components country of origin” doesn’t change soon, since wikipedia states that “on March 10, 2003, Leiner entered into a business relationship with Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, the third-largest drug company in India. Under the terms of the agreement, Dr. Reddy would provide generic medications and components, which would in return be packaged and marketed by Leiner.”

So I’ll just have to keep checking on the Sam’s Club website for the "components country of origin", since it’s not on the bottle... yet.