Guide · 6 min read
Supplement certifications, explained.
Manufacturer audits and product certifications fall into three buckets: food-safety (mandatory), market-access (situational), and marketing (optional). Here's what each one actually proves.
Food safety, what your CMO must hold
- HACCP. The legal baseline in the EU. Not a certification per se, but every food business must run a HACCP plan under Regulation 852/2004.
- ISO 22000. Voluntary food-safety management standard. Common, well-recognised, but not GFSI-benchmarked alone.
- FSSC 22000. ISO 22000 + sector-specific PRPs + GFSI benchmark. The minimum most retailers (Tesco, Carrefour, REWE) now require.
- BRCGS Food Safety. UK-origin GFSI standard, strict on traceability and product safety. Default for UK retail and US-export-via-EU brands.
- IFS Food. German/French GFSI standard, dominant in DACH and French retail.
- GMP for supplements. US 21 CFR 111 (mandatory for US-market) and EU GMP (often EFfCI or NSF GMP for non-pharma). EU has no single mandatory supplement-GMP scheme yet, so reputable CMOs hold NSF, UL, or equivalent voluntarily.
Market and channel access
- EU Organic (Regulation 2018/848). Needed if you put the green leaf logo or the word "organic / bio" on a supplement. Audited per SKU.
- USDA Organic / NOP. Required for US "organic" label claims.
- Kosher. OU is the global gold standard, KSA and OK are common. Audit per facility + per ingredient.
- Halal. JAKIM (Malaysia), MUI (Indonesia), HFA (UK), or regional bodies. Required for GCC/Malaysia/Indonesia export.
- Informed Sport / Informed Choice. Per-batch testing against the WADA banned-substance list. Required for athlete-facing brands and pro team contracts.
- NSF Certified for Sport. US equivalent of Informed Sport.
Marketing certifications
- V-Label Vegan / Vegetarian (Vegan Society). Independently audited vegan claim, important in DACH and growing in retail.
- Non-GMO Project. US-focused. Limited EU consumer recognition.
- B Corp. Brand-level, not product. Useful for positioning, irrelevant for product compliance.
- Carbon-neutral / Climate Pledge. Increasingly scrutinised under EU Green Claims Directive, substantiate before printing.
The minimum stack for a new EU brand
- CMO with FSSC 22000 or BRCGS (food safety + retailer-ready).
- CMO with NSF GMP or equivalent supplement-GMP (US market access).
- EU Organic certification if you claim organic.
- V-Label if your positioning is vegan.
- Informed Sport batch testing only if you sell to athletes.
Need a CMO with the right certifications?
Tell Jake which markets you sell into and which certifications you need on the pack. He filters to CMOs that already hold them.