Protecting Your Brand and Reputation: The Keys to Avoiding Product Recalls
By Rick Handel
Consumers are more interested than ever in self-care, with the health and wellness market in the US estimated at $52.5 billion.1 People are spending money on gym memberships, buying tracking devices to measure their activity, and they are putting more money into supplements that can complement their healthier lifestyles and ensure they are getting the right amount of essential nutrients.
The nutraceutical industry is definitely benefitting from this trend toward more healthy living, and that is leading new organizations to enter the fold, bringing supplements to market that support people’s immune health, gut health, boost their energy, enhance sleep quality and more.
With supplement companies anxious to get product out on the market, the prospect of a product recall can be intimidating. One product recall can destroy a company’s hard-earned reputation, but you can help to protect your brand by making certain that the contract manufacturer you work with is adhering to best practices, processes and procedures.
Bringing Products from Idea2Market
For organizations that are new to the nutraceutical and functional foods markets, it is important to realize that manufacturing a product is just one piece of the puzzle. There are critical steps that must be followed throughout the entire process to ensure quality control, and that begins with the ingredient selection for your new product.
When a hot new ingredient starts becoming more popular among consumers, it is pretty common for cheap imitations to flood the raw material market. These copycat ingredients sell for less, and while they may appear to be a bargain, they could very well be made with poor quality, diluted, or even counterfeit in some cases. The only way to protect yourself from this happening is to apply rigorous science to the ingredient selection and vetting process.
For a supplement manufacturer or marketer to protect their own reputation, ingredients should be sourced only from equally reputable vendors. And this is just the first step. Even after finding a trusted supplier(s), it is critical that manufacturers conduct a detailed review of supporting documents and perform full analytical testing of the ingredient to verify its authenticity, identity, potency and purity. Thorough testing assures that the ingredient – and your product – will not contain any hidden adulterants, contaminants, or undeclared allergens.
Complying with All Regulatory Standards
To avoid product recalls, it is also critical to certify that the product meets all regulatory compliance standards. Manufacturers introducing nutritional supplements to the market should be well-versed on both domestic and foreign regulatory requirements and should be able to provide their customers with supporting documentation to ensure that the product will comply with the regulations in its intended market. This documentation should include full product specifications, nutritional information, certificates of free sale, and regulatory statements.
Supplement Labeling
According to Innova Market Insights, 75% of consumers in the US say they read the nutritional and ingredient labels of food products, and nearly as many “strongly agree” it is important for food labels to contain mostly recognizable ingredients.2 Having consumer-friendly ingredients in your supplement is important, but following regulatory requirements while labeling is essential. Unintentional mislabeling is a problem area for supplement marketers. The product label is the first thing consumers will see, and all statements on that label must be accurate and truthful. Experienced contract manufacturers will review their customers’ labels for accuracy, and to confirm that they are in compliance with regulatory requirements. It is important to note that, if information is missing or misplaced on a label, it could lead to regulatory or civil action down the road, so it pays to engineer precision into your labels on the front end. A reputable contract manufacturer will also work with clients to make sure that only the most updated approved label versions are used, and that all obsolete versions are destroyed per FDA requirements.
Avoid Missteps and Protecting Your Reputation
One of the top priorities for the supplement marketer should be to protect your brand and reputation. That starts right when you conceive of a new product idea and continues through product formulation to labeling. Take all necessary steps to protect your business from making avoidable mistakes that could lead to recalls, class-action lawsuits or problems with retailers. This is one of the many reasons why you should always partner with a contract manufacturer that places special emphasis on regulatory compliance and proper labeling. Having such a partnership with a trusted company will pay dividends in giving you peace of mind when you bring your new product to market.
If you are developing your own custom supplement or nutritional product, we encourage you to turn to a team that can help you safely, smoothly and successfully develop the next big thing. If you would like to learn more about Vitaquest and how we can help you bring a new product to market, please visit us at www.vitaquest.com to get started.
Rick Handel is Senior Vice president of Commercial Operations at Vitaquest International, LLC.
1”Wellness Industry 2022: Pandemic Boosts Self-Care Product Sales”, Selazar, 2022,
https://www.selazar.com/ecommerce-fulfilment/the-wellness-industry-pandemic-creates-surge-in-self-care- products/#wellnessindustry, Accessed 8 December 2022
2Shoup, Mary E., “Innova: Better-for-you Claims on the rise, Which are Leading the Pack?”, FoodNavigator-USA, 10 July 2018,
https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2018/07/10/Innova-Better-for-you-claims-on-the-rise-
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