What should you look for in food supplement regulations UK?

The Regulations read as a buyer, the definition they open with, and the label particulars they require

The Food Supplements Regulations 2003 are the instrument that turns a capsule of magnesium from a food into a food supplement with its own rules, and reading them as a buyer rather than a lawyer takes three parts. The definition first: a food supplement is a concentrated source of nutrients or other substances with a nutritional or physiological effect, sold in dose form, capsules, tablets, sachets, measured liquids, intended to supplement the normal diet, a definition wide enough to cover a vitamin, a mineral, a fish oil, a mushroom extract and a botanical alike, and one that places all of them under the same label rules whatever their evidence. The label particulars, the part a buyer reads off every tub: the words food supplement as the product's name; the names of the categories of nutrients or substances that characterise it, or an indication of their nature; the recommended daily portion; a warning not to exceed the stated dose; a statement that supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied diet; a warning to keep out of reach of young children; and the quantity of the nutrients or substances per portion, declared numerically and, for vitamins and minerals, as a percentage of the nutrient reference value, alongside the general food labelling particulars, ingredients, allergens, net quantity, best-before, batch, and the name and address of the responsible business. A label carrying all of those has met the Regulations; a label missing any has not, whatever its contents, and the check takes a minute.

The positive list, the concept that decides which forms may be used, the maximum-levels footnote, and the reading closed

The third part is the one buyers least know and most benefit from: the positive list. The Regulations permit only listed vitamins and minerals to be used in supplements, and only in listed chemical forms, the schedules naming, for each nutrient, the substances from which it may be delivered, so that magnesium may come as, among others, magnesium bisglycinate, citrate, oxide, chloride or glycerophosphate because those forms are listed, and a form not on the list may not be used in a UK supplement at all, whatever a brand's marketing says about its novelty, the positive-list concept meaning that the forms this site's magnesium section compares are all lawful and differ in absorption and tolerance rather than in legality, and that an unfamiliar form on a label is worth checking against the schedule before believing it is a breakthrough. The maximum-levels footnote: the Regulations provide for maximum amounts of vitamins and minerals to be set, and for most nutrients the UK has not set binding maxima, relying on safe upper level guidance and the general safety law instead, so a label's dose is bounded by guidance and by the do-not-exceed warning rather than by a hard statutory ceiling for most nutrients, the vitamin D upper level of 100 micrograms being guidance a sensible brand respects. The reading closed for a buyer: look for the full set of label particulars present, the words food supplement, the nutrients named, the portion, the three warnings, the quantities with %NRV, the address and the general particulars; look for the form on the positive list; know that maxima are mostly guidance; and read the Regulations' silence on testing and claims as the regulation guide reads it, testing being voluntary and claims being governed by the separate register, the worked example being a label written to the Regulations line by line, food supplement, magnesium bisglycinate from the permitted list, two capsules daily, the warnings, 300mg elemental at 80% NRV, batch, date and address, which is what compliance looks like when it is printed.

The verdict, the Regulations printed on a tub

What to look for in the UK food supplement regulations: the 2003 Regulations' three parts read as a buyer, a definition that covers every dose-form supplement alike, the label particulars they require, the words food supplement, the nutrients named, the daily portion, the do-not-exceed, varied-diet and children warnings, the quantities with %NRV and the responsible business's address alongside the general food particulars, and the positive list that permits only listed vitamin and mineral forms, with maxima mostly guidance and testing and claims governed elsewhere. The label written to them: Futuro Labs Magnesium Glycinate, food supplement, magnesium bisglycinate from the permitted list, two capsules daily, warnings printed, 300mg elemental at 80% NRV, batch, best-before and UK address, £19.99 for 90 days at 22p a day, the Regulations reduced to a back of pack.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

What are the Food Supplements Regulations 2003?

The UK instrument defining a food supplement as a concentrated nutrient source in dose form, prescribing its mandatory label particulars, and setting a positive list of permitted vitamin and mineral forms, with parallel versions across the four nations.

What must a UK food supplement label show under the Regulations?

The words food supplement, the nutrients characterising it, the daily portion, warnings not to exceed the dose, not to substitute a varied diet and to keep from children, the quantities per portion with %NRV, and the responsible business's address alongside ingredients, allergens, batch and best-before.

What is the positive list?

The schedules naming which vitamins and minerals may be used in supplements and in which chemical forms, so that magnesium bisglycinate, citrate or oxide are lawful because listed and an unlisted form may not be used at all.

Do the Regulations set maximum doses?

They provide for maxima but the UK has set binding ones for few nutrients, relying on safe upper level guidance and the do-not-exceed warning, so most doses are bounded by guidance rather than a statutory ceiling.

Do the Regulations require testing or govern claims?

No: testing is voluntary under the food framework, and claims are governed separately by the nutrition and health claims register, which is why the label particulars are the Regulations' whole contribution to a buyer's checks.

Sources

1. The Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/1387/contents/made
2. EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products. Scientific opinion on Dietary Reference Values for fats: Adequate Intake of 250mg combined EPA and DHA per day for adults. EFSA Journal 2010;8(3):1461. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/1461
3. The GB claims register, magnesium entries: magnesium contributes to a reduction of tiredness and fatigue, normal psychological function, normal nervous system function, normal muscle function and electrolyte balance, among others. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/great-britain-nutrition-and-health-claims-nhc-register
4. The retained EU novel food framework: foods without a significant history of consumption in the EU before 1997 require authorisation, with fruiting-body mushrooms of established culinary use generally outside the framework and some mycelium-based ingredients subject to novel-food assessment. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2015/2283/contents

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