UK supplement compliance after Brexit: what's changed and what brands keep getting wrong

For most of its EU membership, the UK operated under the same food supplement framework as the rest of Europe. Since Brexit, the UK has been building its own regulatory divergence, slowly, but with increasing consequence for brands that assume UK compliance is the same as EU compliance. It isn't, and the gap is widening.

The two frameworks now governing UK supplements

FSA (Food Standards Agency) governs food supplements in Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland). The primary legislation is the Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003 and equivalent devolved regulations, retained and amended post-Brexit. The FSA also oversees novel food applications for Great Britain.

MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) governs borderline products: those that could be classified as either a food supplement or a medicine. The MHRA's borderline classification guidance is the key document for any product making health-adjacent claims or containing high-dose actives.

Northern Ireland adds a layer of complexity: under the Windsor Framework, it remains aligned with EU food law for products moving through the island of Ireland supply chain, while Great Britain operates under domestic UK regulations.

The GB claims register

This is where the most significant post-Brexit divergence sits. Under EU membership, UK products could use the EU Register of Authorised Nutrition and Health Claims (Regulation EC 1924/2006). Post-Brexit, Great Britain has its own GB Nutrition and Health Claims Register.

The GB register started as a copy of the EU register at the point of Brexit (January 2021), but has since diverged. The EU has continued to add, modify, and remove authorised claims. The GB register has its own update process under the FSA. A claim authorised by EFSA after January 2021 is not automatically authorised in GB. A claim removed from the EU register may still exist on the GB register, and vice versa.

Brands that maintain a single set of claims for EU and UK are increasingly at risk. Any claim used on UK-facing products should be verified against the current GB register, not the EU register.

Novel food: separate processes

The EU novel food authorisation process (Regulation EU 2015/2283, administered by EFSA) and the GB novel food authorisation process (administered by the FSA) are now separate. A novel food authorisation granted by the EU after Brexit does not apply in Great Britain. For supplement brands with ingredients that required novel food authorisation in the EU, the GB status needs to be independently confirmed.

What UK labelling currently requires

For food supplements sold in Great Britain: product name including 'food supplement' designation, ingredient list, recommended daily dose, warning ('Do not exceed the recommended daily dose'), warning ('Food supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied diet'), warning ('Keep out of the reach of young children'), net quantity, best-before date, storage conditions, name and address of manufacturer, packer, or seller established in the UK, and allergen declarations per UK Food Information Regulations.

The UK address requirement is catching brands out post-Brexit. EU-labelled products with only an EU address are non-compliant for GB sale. A UK-established business address must appear on the label.

The MHRA borderline

The MHRA's borderline classification applies when a product could be a medicine by virtue of its function (physiological effect beyond nutrition) or its presentation (implied disease treatment or prevention). Key risk areas post-Brexit: high-dose vitamin D products, melatonin (classified as a medicine in the UK, available over-the-counter in the US), certain botanical combinations at therapeutic doses, and products explicitly referencing disease conditions on label or in marketing. If a product is near the borderline, get a formal MHRA classification opinion before launch, not after.

The practical implication for brands

If you're selling the same product in both the UK and EU: maintain separate label versions for GB and EU, check every claim on the GB register independently from the EU register, confirm novel food status separately for each jurisdiction, ensure a UK-established business address appears on GB-facing labels, and review MHRA borderline position for any high-dose or functionally active products. The brands getting caught are the ones who set up EU compliance in 2019 and haven't revisited their UK position since.

Taama covers FSA and MHRA compliance for food and supplement brands in the UK, including GB claims register validation and post-Brexit divergence from EU requirements. See our UK coverage