Glucosamine is made from refined crab and shrimp shells, probably not too hard to get a clean product. But chondroitin comes from several sources; cartilage from cows, pigs, sharks, etc. I can see how there would be a lot of room for different levels of cleanliness in the original source material. As the link below mentions, some material is now manufactured in China, with reports of less than sanitary practice.
Fromthis site :
Glucosamine – The glucosamine manufacturing process arguably warrants some kind of quality control. The starting material is shells from crustaceans such as shrimp and crabs. Vanson , a Redmond, Wash., company buys, shells and dries, deproteinizes, and demineralizes them, leaving a compound known as chitin, or poly N-acetylglucosamine. The chitin is then deacylated to yield chitosan, or polyglucosamine, a compound formulated into a number of popular weight-loss products because of its ability to bind fats and oils. The Pfanstiehl company depolymerizes chitin and then deacetylates it to yield glucosamine.
Chondroitin – Like glucosamine, chondroitin comes from natural origins, in this case the cartilage of cows, and sometimes pigs and sharks or bovine trachea which is otherwise sold to pet-food makers. These are put in vessels, digested enzymatically, filtered, purified, and then dried into a powder. The chemistry practiced in China is the same but tends to be carried out by seafood processors that have jumped into the glucosamine business. Horror stories abound about how trachea are allowed to sit in the sun outside Chinese chondroitin plants and be picked clean by vermin. Chondroitin is a polymer of varying molecular weight for which no standard exists. The Chinese product is generally backed by an unsigned certificate of analysis on a trading firm’s letterhead, making the results hard to confirm or query. Chinese chondroitin is certified as 90% pure, but competitors allege that in reality it tests lower, usually in the 80s, and sometimes as low as 20%.
So for the near future, buyers are advised to beware, because what is currently being sold as chondroitin sulfate in health food stores, drugstores, and mass merchandisers across the country could be just about anything
This isn’t meant to scare anyone away from taking Glucosamine/chondroitin supplements; I know many people who have taken it with good effects. But, use a reputable manufacturer, and don’t go for the cheapest brand.
Mr. Duality At the very least, take the product back to where you bought it and complain. If it was at a big megastore, they may just give you your money back, but, hopefully will be concerned that the product made you sick.
If it was at a healthfood store, they’d certainly want to know about a bad product.
There are three links to reputable manufactures and a consumer testing lab in the above article. Perhaps you can contact them for more information. Companies making a good product have a vested interest in protecting the market from poor products that hurt the reputation of the product at large.
