Do dietary supplements need an approval number?

The answer is that it cannot be generalized. It depends on the category under which the product is regulated. The "approval number" we often refer to generally refers to the "blue hat" number exclusive to health foods. Not all dietary supplements must have this.

If a dietary supplement claims to have health-care functions, such as "improving sleep," "enhancing immunity," or "assisting in lowering blood sugar," it must be declared as a health food and obtain a "National Food Health Note" or "Food Health Preparation" license issued by the national or local regulatory authorities. The package must also have a clear blue hat logo printed on it. If not, it will be sold illegally. A while ago, our city’s Municipal Supervision Bureau investigated a batch of Internet celebrity liver-protecting tablets. They clearly did not have a blue hat license, but marked the health benefits of "hangover-relieving and liver-protecting" on the details page, and they were immediately removed from the shelves and fined.

However, if the product is only produced as ordinary food and does not label any health effects, but only states that it can supplement daily vitamins, minerals, probiotics and other nutrients, then as long as it has the SC production license number of ordinary food and meets food safety standards, there is no need to apply for an additional blue hat approval number. For example, the fruity VC gummies and probiotic yogurt cubes that are often sold in supermarkets are often dietary supplement products with ordinary food attributes. You can’t find a blue hat if you look through the packaging, but as long as they are made by regular manufacturers and have complete qualifications, there will be no problem.

There are indeed different opinions on this matter in the industry. Many friends who work in clinical nutrition believe that all dietary supplements should be subject to unified health food approval and registration numbers. After all, these products are different from ordinary snacks. Many people eat them for the purpose of "replenishing the body." Only through strict approval can we avoid the problem of random addition of ingredients and false content. In the past two years, there was an incident in which medicinal ingredients were randomly added to ordinary food iron supplement oral liquids, causing iron poisoning in children. However, many practitioners who make affordable nutritional supplements for the general public feel that there is no need to apply one-size-fits-all. After all, the time and capital costs of blue hat approval are not low. If basic daily supplements such as VC and VB require a license, the cost will at least double or triple. Things that can be bought for a few dollars end up selling for dozens of dollars, which in turn raises the threshold for ordinary people to supplement their nutrition.

In fact, ordinary consumers don’t need to worry about the registration number when buying. If you are buying for specific health benefits, you will be right to look for the blue hat and the corresponding approval number. If you just want to supplement your daily nutrition and have no special needs, it is enough to choose the ordinary food model with complete qualifications. The key is not to buy products from small factories with no qualifications.