The Supplement Facts panel

The Supplement Facts panel is the most prescribed label element any small manufacturer is likely to encounter, and the rules are specific enough to fail on detail.

What the panel must contain

Serving size. Servings per container. The dietary ingredients with amounts per serving in appropriate units. Percent Daily Value where one is established. And the panel must be introduced by the heading "Supplement Facts".

Separately, the principal display panel must identify the product as a dietary supplement, and the container must carry a net quantity of contents, your name and place of business, and an allergen declaration where applicable.

The heading rule

It must say "Supplement Facts", not "Nutrition Facts", and it must appear in a type size larger than any other print in the nutrition label.

That specific requirement catches designers who set the heading to match the rest of the panel for visual balance. It is a rule about relative type size rather than a stylistic preference.

Serving size and servings per container

Serving size must be expressed in a term appropriate to the form: tablets, capsules, packets, teaspoonfuls. For a powder that means a household measure or a weight, and declaring grams is what makes the claim verifiable given how inaccurate a scoop is.

Servings per container sits beneath serving size, except that it need not be given when the same information already appears in the net quantity declaration.

And the arithmetic has to work. Net weight divided by serving size must equal the servings declared, which is the check most often skipped.

Other ingredients and the disclaimer

Components that are not dietary ingredients, flow agents, anticaking agents, flavors, are declared in an "Other ingredients" line beneath the panel rather than inside it.

And any structure/function claim requires substantiation and the DSHEA disclaimer. A claim to treat, prevent or cure is a drug claim and no disclaimer rescues it.

References