Several customers have called in to Jigsaw Health customer service to ask this. And they've all had the same batch of product, Lot ##1709015.
As in all cases like this, the Jigsaw Quality Control team opens an investigation. Here's what we found:
One of the last steps in the manufacturing of MagSRT is to coat the tablets with an alcohol based solution.
We use a USP Food-Grade Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA). We’ve been using it for many years.
The coating acts as a barrier to help keep the tablets intact so that when they rub against each other in the bottle, they don't scrape and cause a chalky mess.
And if you stick your nose into any MagSRT (or MagSRT B-Free) bottle and breathe deeply, you’re definitely going to notice the smell.
But the question remains: "Why does Lot #1709015 smell much stronger than other batches of MagSRT?"
We had four different batches of MagSRT sent to the lab to test for IPA residue. The results came back, measured in Parts Per Million (PPM):
1) Lot #1609017 = 10.3ppm
2) Lot #1703020 = 9.4ppm
3) Lot #1709015 = 17ppm (Lot in question)
4) Lot #1803001 = 12.9ppm
Obviously, Lot 3 has the highest IPA residue.
And Lot 4 — the batch most recently produced which will begin shipping in July 2018 — still has some IPA residue, just like with all of the previous batches.
So, why is there variability?
According to the Batch Processing Records (BPR), it shows that all batches (including Lot 3) were dried for 30 minutes after the coating process.
And this is the appropriate amount of time. (Any longer, and we risk the tablets being too fragile.)
The variability might actually be caused by room temperature variation, or by a variation in the IPA itself. We're not 100% certain on either.
Now...Keep in mind, this measurement is in Parts Per Million. So that's like finding 9 grains of sand vs. 17 grains of sand. Either way, it's still not a lot of sand. :)
BUT...Here’s the BEST NEWS: As a result of this investigation, we discovered that there’s a fairly new water-based coating technology.
We’re researching that now, and we’re very likely to switch to it in the next batch, which would be available to consumers in Fall or Winter 2018.
(And no, this new water-based coating will not have an impact on the Sustained Release Technology.)
So thank you to the consumers who called in to complain. We pulled out our "Silver Linings Playbook" and found a way to make MagSRT even better!!
