Private label supplements in blisters for Europe

For brands and distributors selling inside the EU, the goods move between member states without import clearance. Where a country requires notification of a food supplement, the manufacturer or the business placing the product on the market is the one asked. Each batch comes with a Certificate of Analysis and specification, and the carton artwork is final before print; your importer or adviser confirms what each country asks for. Brands selling in Great Britain have a short section of their own below.

Who makes private label supplements in blisters inside the EU?

HYPERPHARM does, as a European manufacturer with the product made in the EU. White label uses one of more than 500 ready-made formulas, with new ones added every month; private label is made to your own formula, and the rights to it are set in the contract. A distributor can order under its own brand in the same way as a brand owner.

Tablets, capsules and softgels are sealed on an Uhlmann B 1240 blister line and cartoned on an IMA IC 150. The plant lays out and prints the carton and the lidding foil, or prints from your artwork, and a printed leaflet goes into the carton to your artwork. See packing, blister films and the examples of blisters under a neutral brand.

What is the minimum order for supplements in blisters?

A blister run starts from 2,000 cartons and at least 4,000 blisters, and production takes 6 to 10 weeks, with transport on top. That is the minimum for a printed blister carton: with one blister per carton, 4,000 cartons reach the blister minimum, and a carton can hold up to 4 blisters. A repeat order carries the same minimum.

Each blister holds one kind of tablet or capsule. Tablets and capsules of any size can go into blisters; where a size is outside the current tooling, a forming set is made or bought for it, and its lead time is confirmed in our reply. Shelf life is set on the carton: batch number and expiry date go there, not on the foil. The full figures are on the minimum order page and the lead times page.

Can I order small batches of white label supplements in bottles?

Yes. For stock packaging, a ready-made formula starts from 100 units in bottles, tubes or pouches, with your own brand produced from 2 weeks. Your own formula starts from 500 bottles, with production from 4 weeks. Small batches, kleine Mengen and production na zlecenie all describe the same thing here: a batch made to your order, under your brand.

Small bottle runs suit a first test of a market; a blister run suits a range that is already selling. How to choose between them is on blister or bottle. Terms for each product type are on the pages for white label and private label, and formulas by ingredient are listed under private label ingredients.

Why does free circulation inside the EU matter?

Because goods already in free circulation in the EU travel between member states without customs duties and without import clearance, apart from special territories. The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) bans customs duties between member states in Article 28, and Article 34 bans quantitative restrictions on imports between member states and measures with equivalent effect.

For a brand in one member state buying from a manufacturer in the EU, this removes the import declaration, the duty and the clearance agent that a shipment from outside the EU needs. Transport, VAT and excise rules of the receiving country still apply, and your customs or tax adviser confirms them. Free movement of goods is a rule about borders; the product itself must still meet the food law of the country where it is sold, and the next sections cover that.

Who notifies a food supplement in the country of sale?

Each country decides whether it asks for notification. Where it does, Directive 2002/46/EC, Article 10, lets the member state require the manufacturer or the person placing the product on the market to notify the competent authority, by sending it a model of the label used for the product. For a brand sold in that country this is usually the brand owner or its importer.

Whether a country asks, and through which portal, is set by that country; your importer or adviser confirms it for each market. You receive the carton artwork in final form, the specification and the Certificate of Analysis, which are the documents such a file usually draws on. Name the countries you plan to sell in when you send the enquiry. Under Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, Article 8, the business under whose name the food is marketed is responsible for the food information; if that business is not established in the EU, the importer into the EU is. The brand owner or importer therefore confirms the carton text.

Which language must the label be in?

A language easily understood by consumers in the country of sale. Regulation (EU) 1169/2011, Article 15, requires the mandatory food information to appear in such a language, and lets a member state require one or more of the official languages of the EU. Which languages a country accepts is set by that country, and your importer confirms it.

Carton and foil are printed to your artwork or laid out at the plant, and for several countries the cartons per language are confirmed in our reply. For food supplements the label carries, among other particulars, the names of the categories of nutrients present, the portion of the product recommended for daily consumption and a warning not to exceed it; these come from Directive 2002/46/EC, Article 6. Send the texts in the language of each market, or let your importer confirm them, before the carton goes to print, because a changed text means a new print of carton and foil. Other language work is on the page for Arabic and French packaging.

What are NRV and the maximum doses for vitamins and minerals in the EU?

NRV stands for nutrient reference value, the figure against which the amount of a vitamin or mineral in a portion is expressed as a percentage on the label. The values sit in Annex XIII, Part A, of Regulation (EU) 1169/2011. A few of them: vitamin C 80 mg, vitamin D 5 µg, vitamin B12 2.5 µg, calcium 800 mg, magnesium 375 mg, iron 14 mg and zinc 10 mg.

An NRV is a labelling reference, not a dose limit. Directive 2002/46/EC, Article 5, provides for maximum amounts of vitamins and minerals per daily portion to be set, taking safe upper levels into account; at EU level no such amounts have been set, so national limits apply where a country has set them. A formula for one country can therefore differ from the same formula for another. Name the target countries and the daily portion you want, and the dose in the formula is set to the limits you confirm for them.

What documents come with each batch, and how is it delivered?

Every batch ships with a Certificate of Analysis and a specification, and copies of the plant's certificates go out on request. The plant holds ISO 22000 (BM Certification, valid to 7 January 2029), HACCP under Regulation (EC) 852/2004 and GMP to the Food Supplements Europe guide (both valid to 17 May 2027), and an FDA registration. Copies with their numbers are sent to clients on request. Details are on the quality page.

Delivery is EXW by default, FCA or DAP on request. Within the EU, transport is arranged by the buyer or the seller as the chosen term says; export formalities apply only to shipments leaving the EU, for example to Great Britain. A sample goes out before an order. The plant can be visited, and a third-party laboratory can test for prohibited substances on request.

Can the same products be sold in the United Kingdom?

Great Britain is a separate market with its own import and label rules, which your importer confirms. Since Brexit, Great Britain is outside the EU customs union, so goods sent there from an EU country are imported into Great Britain. The free movement described above stops at that border.

Under EXW, FCA and DAP the import into Great Britain stays with the buyer, and your importer or customs broker confirms the tariff code, the duty and VAT where they apply, and the label rules. The carton is printed to the artwork your importer approves. A blister run for Britain has the same minimum, from 2,000 cartons and 4,000 blisters, and the same production time of 6 to 10 weeks, with transport on top.

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Questions buyers ask about supplement manufacturing in Europe

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