Checks to ensure vitamins and supplements are safe and legal to sell in the UK and EU?
What check is required for me to ensure vitamin & supplement product is safe and legal to sell in the UK/EU. Assuming supplier is not aware of the compliance for UK market though they are happy to make it happen as required. They sell in USA. I would appreciate any help at all. Thank you
This is potentially quite a broad question!
Assuming the products are "supplements" (rather than e.g. fortified food products) then the specific requirements are largely derived from Directive 2002/46/EC: https://eur-lex.euro...elex:32002L0046
There is a UK guidance page on this here that might be useful reading: https://www.gov.uk/g...ood-supplements
Note that this Directive, in the latest amended form, includes a list of the substances that can be used in supplements - this list may differ from that which is applicable in the USA, so definitely check ingredients against this list as use of other components would probably render the product illegal to sell in the UK.
Beyond this, food supplements would be subject to all of the "normal" legislation for food products on composition, labelling, general safety etc. If your supplier isn't familiar with the applicable requirements, and it's not something you've worked with before, then you might want to look at using a consultant or similar to assist in getting this started
I am sorry for not being clear. I have a factory that makes vitamin products eg vitamin a tablet. I am considering doing business with them however I need to make sure they comply with the UK regulations/ requirements. The factory does not know what is required for the UK as their business is with the USA and Australia. They have a big regulatory team on site. I just need to advise them on what they need to comply with so they can check and make it happen as required before I introduce them into UK market. Can you help at all, please?
This is potentially quite a broad question!
Assuming the products are "supplements" (rather than e.g. fortified food products) then the specific requirements are largely derived from Directive 2002/46/EC: https://eur-lex.euro...elex:32002L0046
There is a UK guidance page on this here that might be useful reading: https://www.gov.uk/g...ood-supplements
Note that this Directive, in the latest amended form, includes a list of the substances that can be used in supplements - this list may differ from that which is applicable in the USA, so definitely check ingredients against this list as use of other components would probably render the product illegal to sell in the UK.
Beyond this, food supplements would be subject to all of the "normal" legislation for food products on composition, labelling, general safety etc. If your supplier isn't familiar with the applicable requirements, and it's not something you've worked with before, then you might want to look at using a consultant or similar to assist in getting this started
In that case you probably want to point them towards the two links in my previous post as a starting point.
The second one also contains links / references to some of the other applicable regulations too, although it's not intended to be exhaustive.
Summarising all of the requirements is quite a significant task, so again if this is something that you're not familiar with then it might be worth getting a consultant to assist you - whilst the factory may have their own regulatory team, the onus to ensure legal compliance in the UK is very much on your business as the UK importer/distributor, so having someone knowledgeable to help you get started by checking that the factory/product/labelling etc are all correct is IMO a sensible investment.