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New Requirements For Selling Dietary Supplements On Amazon

By February 26, 2021June 29th, 2022No Comments

Purchasing nutraceuticals or dietary supplements online has generally been met with a lot of consumers’ worrying. This worry comes from not knowing exactly what they are buying and the product being sold can be perceived as “sketchy”. Amazon has recognized this problem and is hoping to resolve it by creating new requirements for all supplements that are to be sold on their site. These additions are prepared so that all suppliers of dietary supplements have to follow these requirements by February 2021.

What Are The New Requirements For Selling Dietary Supplements?

There are three main requirements that are going to make the biggest difference in the manufacturing and selling of dietary supplements through Amazon.

Certification Of Analysis

The first requirement is that every dietary supplement that is going to be sold on Amazon must have a Certification of Analysis (CoA) from an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory. An ISO/IEC 17025 is the standard for which most labs must hold accreditation in order to be deemed competent. This has to be issued within six months of the product being marketed. This certification also needs to include the following:

  • Product name;
  • Expiration date that has not passed;
  • Batch, lot number, or date code of the product;
  • Name and address of the manufacturer or distributor;
  • The name of each ingredient noted on the Supplement Facts Panel (SFP);
  • Confirmation that the product contains the number of ingredients as noted in the SPF; and
  • The units of measure on the CoA must be the same units of measure as found in the SFP.

a woman reading the label of a dietary supplement she purchased on AmazonWhile this may look like a lot of information by requiring a CoA, the main goal is just to ensure that the product being marketed, is the product that is being sold. This means that the labels and Supplement Facts Panel on the bottle relay correct information to the consumers and can be trusted. While the CoA is a great way of doing this, Amazon has not released any more information regarding their need to confirm or look through the CoA reports.

Product Image Must Be Shown

The new regulation also mandates that the product must have detailed images of all sides of the bottle on the Amazon page. This means that each side must be photographed and easily accessible to consumers while searching. The images of the product must include pictures of the packaging that clearly shows all of the following:

  • The products name;
  • The name and address of the company;
  • Batch, lot number or date code of the product; and
  • The Supplement Facts Panel

Letter Of Guarantee

The final new regulation is that each dietary supplement that is sold through Amazon must have a letter of guarantee from the manufacturer on the official letterhead. This letter must declare the following information in order to be classified as a letter of guarantee:

  • Complete name of the product being sold
  • Assurance that the product has been made under the Good Manufacturing Practices of 21 C.F.R. 111;
  • State that the product has not adulterated under Section 402(f) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;
  • Confirm that the amount of ingredients in the product reflects what is represented in the Supplement Facts Panel and is safe for consumption.

Will These Requirements Help?

an individual consuming a dietary supplement that is protected by an insurance planWith these new requirements set in place, the goal is to ensure that the products consumers are buying online through Amazon are safe to consume. With products being fully transparent with the quality of supplements, the overall market for purchasing these kinds of products through Amazon will hopefully increase. Shoppers can feel confident in their purchasing of dietary supplements through the website knowing that they have stricter regulations for all the dietary products being sold.

How Brands Should Respond

Brands should take this into consideration when marketing their products. By making sure they are following all of the new requirements, their product will continue to sell through the site with no problems. The best course of action is to get ahead of an arising issue and ensure that your supplement has all of the new qualifications as soon as possible. If any seller does not make the necessary changes or updates to their product then Amazon is able to take action against them. Amazon can either remove the product altogether from the site, suspend the seller from uploading any of their products on Amazon, withhold any payments due to the seller and in even more serious incidents, take more serious legal action.

For a full list of the requirements visit Amazon’s seller central.

Talk With SSI About Selling Dietary Spplements

Southern States Insurance is here to help you make sure you and your products are protected. Feel free to reach out to us for more information on Amazon’s new dietary supplement requirements. We have been working hard, providing high-level service since 1992. We have experienced agents that are prepared to work with you on your insurance policy. We have grown to be one of the largest, privately-held insurance agencies in the Southeast. Feel free to reach out to us by phone at 678-715-9513 or you can request a consultation online today. We are ready to help you get ahead of any issue that could come from these new nutraceutical requirements.