The legal and ethical importance of ensuring consumer product safety and third-party testing cannot be understated. At the federal level, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Transportation, and even the Department of the Treasury work to oversee the regulation of both voluntary and mandatory standards of product safety. Needless to say, ensuring a reasonable level of product safety is not only inherently ethical but also required by law.

In order to determine whether a new product, medical device, or pharmaceutical is safe, its manufacturer generally runs its own internal testing and control processes. Yet, how can a company be certain that the results of such tests are valid and unbiased, and that all aspects of the product have been considered? To confirm that their data is reliable and that their product is safe and effective, companies typically turn to third party product testing.

Third party product testing is a quality control (QC) process that allows for an independent company (a third party) to test for any and all product quality and safety issues that may pose a risk of harm to the public. Third party testing also seeks to verify that the product complies with the mandates of all relevant regulatory agencies.

Although companies generally run their own QC processes in-house, third party product testing is crucial in that it provides unbiased information from an outside source. In this way, both the manufacturer and regulatory agencies can be certain that the results were not manipulated. The manufacturer then also has peace of mind knowing that a fresh set of eyes has reviewed its product for anything that may have been missed and that their product is safe to sell to the public.