Nutraceutical contract manufacturer: what a supplement manufacturer does, from formula to shipping

Nutraceutical or food supplement: what are we talking about?

“Nutraceutical” blends nutrition and pharmaceutical. It describes food-derived products taken for a physiological benefit. The word has no legal definition in EU law. As soon as a product is sold in dose form (capsules, tablets, gummies, powders) to supplement the normal diet, it falls under the food supplement framework.

That framework rests on Directive 2002/46/EC, transposed in France by Decree No. 2006-352 of 20 March 2006. Health claims are governed by Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 and labelling by Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011. In France, each product must be notified to the DGCCRF through the Compl’Alim online service before it is first placed on the market. For a manufacturer, nutraceutical and food supplement therefore mean the same thing: food products, subject to food law rather than medicines law.

What a nutraceutical contract manufacturer does, step by step

Scope varies from one manufacturer to another. A full-service partner covers the whole chain, from idea to parcel.

Formulation. The R&D team turns the brand’s brief into a recipe: ingredients and their forms, compliant dosages, dosage form, taste and stability. A lab-scale trial then validates the recipe on a small batch.

Raw material sourcing. The manufacturer selects and qualifies suppliers, receives each lot and checks its certificate of analysis. A supplement is only as good as its ingredients.

Manufacturing. Blending, encapsulation, compression or gummy depositing. In Saumur we run 3 capsule fillers, 2 tablet presses and 2 gummy lines in a 5,000 m² plant.

Packaging. The product goes into jars, doypacks or stick packs, then is labelled. These are packaging formats: the same powder can ship in a doypack and in 20, 30 or 40 mm wide stick packs.

Quality control and batch release. In-process checks, finished product testing and full traceability from each raw material lot to the shipped product.

Regulatory. Checking claims, labelling and dosages. At Irati Production this is a service delivered by our regulatory team, as is listing a product on the Cologne List for sports brands.

Storage and shipping. Some manufacturers also hold stock and fulfil orders. We run a 1,500 m² storage site in Allonnes, shipping to distributors or straight to the brand’s end customers. The stock belongs to the brand.

White label, custom, full service: three ways to work

White label means taking an existing formula from the manufacturer’s catalogue and selling it under your own brand. It is the fastest route and the only one that allows small batches.

Custom starts from a blank page: the formula is developed for the brand, with exclusivity terms set by contract. Quantities then depend on the development. We compare both routes in our article on white label vs custom supplements.

Full service describes a manufacturer handling the whole journey, from formulation to shipping, with a single point of contact. It applies to standard and custom formulas alike. Pure contract manufacturing, where a brand only outsources production of a formula it already owns, is a different case covered on our contract manufacturing page.

What the brand keeps on its side

Outsourcing production does not transfer responsibility for the product. The operator under whose name the supplement is marketed remains accountable to the authorities. In practice, the brand keeps three tasks.

Placing on the market. The brand sells the product and answers for its compliance.

Notification. In France, the Compl’Alim notification is filed in the brand’s name, no later than first placing on the market. The manufacturer supplies the technical data (composition, doses, label) and can help build the file.

Marketing. Website, social media, influencers, sales material: only claims authorised in the EU register may be used, under their conditions of use. A compliant label does not protect a brand from advertising that overpromises.

Steps and real lead times with a nutraceutical contract manufacturer

Here is how a custom project runs at Irati Production. For a standard white label formula, the recipe and lab trial steps drop out.

These lead times assume quick feedback from the brand at each approval.

Guarantees to check before signing

A nutraceutical contract manufacturer makes food, so its baseline is HACCP, mandatory for every food business operator in the EU. ISO 22000 certification goes further, with a food safety management system audited by a third party. To sell in the United States, the site must be registered with the FDA. Irati Production holds all three and has been manufacturing for more than 10 years.

Beyond certificates, look at the dosage forms actually made on site, available capacity, transparency on lead times and in-house regulatory support. We set out these points in our guide on how to choose a supplement manufacturer.