How to spot fake Thorne supplements?

Premium fakes are priced right: why the cost-floor tell does not work for a brand that sells at pounds a day, and the first two chain checks, the authorised seller list and the pooled stock problem

How to spot fake supplements from a premium American practitioner-channel brand is a question whose answer differs from the value-brand version in one way that changes everything: a premium brand's counterfeits are priced right. The brand in question sells through practitioners and its own site at a price of pounds a day for many products, with a reputation built on testing and on enrolment of much of its range in the American sports certification programme, and a counterfeiter who copies it has a margin to take at the genuine price and no need to undercut. A fake of a value brand's tub is often sold below the cost floor, the sum of the six costs a genuine unit cannot be made for less than, and the price gives it away; a fake of a premium brand's tub is sold at the price the brand charges, through a listing the buyer trusts, and the price tells the buyer nothing. The test moves from the price to the chain, the sequence of hands the tub passed through between the factory and the kitchen, and there are four chain checks, run in order.

The first check is the brand's own authorised seller list. A premium brand with a counterfeit problem publishes the sellers it supplies, on its site and often with a warning about the ones it does not, and the list is the first thing a buyer reads before buying anywhere but from the brand itself. A marketplace storefront that is on the list has been supplied by the brand; a storefront that is not has been supplied by someone else, which may be a legitimate wholesaler and may not, and the brand's warranty, its returns and its testing promise do not follow a unit through an unlisted seller. For a UK buyer the list usually names one or two UK distributors and the brand's own site, and a tub bought from any of them has passed through a chain the brand controls.

The second check is the pooled stock problem, and it is the reason the first check is not enough on a marketplace. When a marketplace fulfils orders itself, it often pools units of the same product code supplied by several sellers in one bin and ships whichever is nearest, so that a buyer who orders from an authorised seller's listing can receive a unit supplied by an unauthorised one, and if that unit is counterfeit, the fake has reached a careful buyer through a genuine listing. The intellectual property research describes this commingling as the main route by which fakes of trusted brands reach people who did everything right, and the consequence is that on a pooled marketplace the seller check is necessary and not sufficient, and the unit itself has to be checked, which is the third and fourth checks in the next section.

Price ruled out as a tell and two chain checks run, and the two checks on the unit itself, the one channel that removes the chain, the non-fakes and the worked example, which is the next section.

The lot number verified with the brand or in the certification database, the unit's finish, the direct channel that removes the chain, the two non-fakes a buyer may mistake for one, the brand left unnamed, the worked example, and the verdict

The third check is the lot number, and for this brand it has a feature most brands lack. Every genuine tub carries a printed lot number and expiry, and the brand will confirm on request that a lot is one of theirs and when it was made, which is the ordinary check; but the brand also enrols many of its products in the American sports certification programme, which screens each lot of an enrolled product and lists the tested lots in a public database searchable by product and lot number. For an enrolled product, a tub whose lot number is not in that database is either a lot that was never tested, which the brand can explain, or a counterfeit, which it cannot, and the database check takes a minute and reaches a fake that no packaging inspection would. A buyer checks which of the brand's products are enrolled, searches the lot of the tub in their hand, and treats an absence on an enrolled product as the tell. The fourth check is the unit's finish, compared with a known genuine one if the buyer has had one before: the induction seal under the cap, intact and printed as the brand prints it; the label's print quality, colour and alignment; the capsule's size, colour, fill and smell against the previous tub; and the lot number's print, which should match the expiry date's print rather than being added by a different process. Finish is the weakest of the four checks because counterfeiters copy it best, and it is run last.

One channel removes the chain entirely, and for a premium brand it costs nothing extra: buying from the brand's own site, or from its named UK distributor, at the same price the marketplace charges or close to it, with the chain reduced to one hand and the pooled stock problem absent. A buyer who has been burned once, or who is drug-tested and relying on the certification, uses that channel and skips the four checks, because the checks exist to reconstruct a chain the direct channel never breaks. The marketplace's convenience is the only thing the direct channel lacks, and for a product at pounds a day the convenience is not worth the chain.

Two non-fakes are mistaken for counterfeits of this brand often enough to name. The first is the grey import: a genuine tub bought in bulk in the United States and shipped to the UK by a third party, without a UK or EU importer's address, often with an American label that differs from the UK distributor's and sometimes near its expiry; it is real, it is not a UK legal product and nobody here answers for it, and it is found by the address line rather than by any counterfeit check. The second is a reformulation: the brand changes capsules, colours and label designs over time, and a tub that differs from the last one may simply be newer, which the brand's site confirms in a minute. The brand is not named in the body of this page, by rule, and the four chain checks apply to every premium brand with a counterfeit problem, of which there are several.

The worked example is placed on the same chain checks: {FL} is sold under the brand's own storefront, which is its authorised seller, with a UK address on the tub, a lot number on every unit that matches the batch certificate available on request, an induction seal under the cap, and 1500mg magnesium bisglycinate stated as 300mg elemental at 80% NRV in two capsules, UK made under GMP and BRC, 180 capsules for £19.99 at 22p a day; it is not enrolled in a sports certification programme, so its lot check is with the brand rather than in a database, and the page says so. The full label breakdown is here.

The verdict: a premium brand's fake is priced right, so the price is no tell and the chain is the test. Buy from the brand's listed authorised sellers, remember that pooled marketplace stock can ship a fake unit against a genuine listing, verify the lot number with the brand or in the sports certification database for an enrolled product, and inspect the finish last. Or remove the chain by buying direct, which for a product at pounds a day costs nothing extra and settles the question.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

How do I know if a premium supplement is counterfeit?

Not by price, because a fake of a product that sells for pounds a day is sold at the genuine price through a trusted listing; by the chain instead, in four checks run in order: whether the seller is on the brand's published authorised list, the knowledge that pooled marketplace stock can ship a fake unit against a genuine listing, the lot number verified with the brand or in the sports certification database for an enrolled product, and the unit's finish compared with a known genuine one; or by removing the chain and buying from the brand's own site or its named UK distributor.

Can a fake arrive from an authorised seller's listing?

Yes, on a marketplace that fulfils orders from pooled stock: units of the same product code supplied by several sellers are stored in one bin and shipped by proximity, so a buyer ordering from an authorised seller's listing can receive a unit supplied by an unauthorised one, and if that unit is counterfeit it has reached a careful buyer through a genuine listing; the intellectual property research names this commingling as the main route for fakes of trusted brands, which is why the seller check is necessary and not sufficient and the unit's lot is verified separately.

How do I verify a supplement lot number?

Every genuine tub carries a printed lot number and expiry, and the brand confirms on request that a lot is theirs and when it was made; for a brand that enrols products in the American sports certification programme, each tested lot of an enrolled product is also listed in the programme's public database, searchable by product and lot, so a tub whose lot is absent on a product that should be enrolled is either an untested lot the brand can explain or a counterfeit it cannot, and the database check reaches a fake that no inspection of the packaging would.

What looks like a fake but is not?

Two things: a grey import, which is a genuine tub bought in bulk in the United States and shipped to the UK by a third party without a UK or EU importer's address, often with an American label that differs from the UK distributor's and sometimes near expiry, real but not a UK legal product and found by the address line; and a reformulation, since brands change capsules, colours and label designs over time and a tub that differs from the last may simply be newer, which the brand's own site confirms in a minute.

How do I know this site's magnesium is genuine?

By the same chain checks: it is sold under the brand's own storefront, which is its authorised seller, carries a UK address on the tub, has a lot number on every unit that matches the batch certificate available on request, and has an induction seal under the cap; it is made in a UK facility certified to GMP and BRC, states 300mg elemental at 80% NRV in two capsules with the evening meal, costs 22p a day, and is not enrolled in a sports certification programme, so its lot is verified with the brand rather than in a database.

Sources

1. The counterfeit supplement literature: falsified and counterfeit dietary supplements are documented on online marketplaces, concentrated in high-value branded categories, with seller verification and packaging inspection the principal consumer defences. PubMed record
2. The marketplace commingled inventory problem: when a marketplace fulfils orders from pooled stock of the same product code supplied by several sellers, a buyer who orders from a reputable seller can receive a unit supplied by another, so that counterfeit units entering the pool through one seller reach buyers of all, which is why the listing, the seller and the unit received are three separate checks. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ipo-counterfeit-goods-research
3. The American certification body's supplement programmes: a facility registration against good manufacturing practice, a contents certification that tests label claim and contaminants, and a Certified for Sport mark that screens every lot for substances banned in sport, with the results listed in a public database; a US programme that appears on UK shelves on imported American brands. https://www.nsfsport.com/
4. The food information regulations on responsibility: the food business operator under whose name a food is marketed is responsible for the information, and for a food imported from outside the UK that operator is the importer, who must ensure a compliant label in English with a UK or EU address. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2011/1169/article/8

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