What Certifications Should My Supplement Manufacturer Have?

You just want to find a manufacturer you can trust. 

But the minute you start asking about certifications, you’re buried in a pile of acronyms: NSF, GMP, SQF, FDA, USDA.

So, which ones matter? Which ones are legally required? Which ones actually mean something, and which are just fluff?

Let’s make it simple.

TL;DR: What You Need to Look For

What Every Legitimate Manufacturer Must Have

Your product will, ultimately, be consumed by someone. And that means, at a bare minimum, your supplement manufacturing partner should have legal documentation demonstrating they pass food and safety regulations.

These are:

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Registrations: If your product is a supplement, your manufacturer must be registered as a dietary supplement facility. If it's a food or beverage, they need food facility registration. This is table stakes. 

No FDA registration? Walk away.

US Department of Agriculture (USDA): For food-based products, your co-packer should have the proper licensing from the USDA or their state’s equivalent for food processing and packaging. This covers sanitation, pest control, water quality, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), and more.

Remember, if your partner isn’t properly licensed, you’re the one who pays the price. 

USPlabs CEO Jacobo Geissler spent 60 months in jail after his company’s supplement products used noncompliant overseas manufacturers, leading to an outbreak of acute liver failure. 

That worst-case scenario is rare, but it’s important to avoid the risk in the first place. Margins aren’t worth the real-world health, legal, and financial consequences.

The Differentiator: Third-Party Certifications

Now here’s where it gets tricky. Certifications are where the wheat gets separated from the chaff, but they’re also where most founders get lost.

For Food Products

Look for:

Safe Quality Food (SQF) Certifications

Safe Quality Food (SQF) Certifications

Brand Reputation Compliance (BRCGS) Certifications

SQF is the most common and respected for food-grade facilities. There are levels depending on the product type, but generally, if a facility is SQF-certified, they have passed audits for traceability, sanitation, allergen control, and supply chain safety.

BRCGS originally started in Britain, but is now an internationally recognized benchmark for food safety, packaging safety, and quality control. Earning this certification isn’t easy; their auditors are tough, arrive unannounced, and do comprehensive checks before delivering their stamp of approval. 

For Supplements

Your partner should have one, or both, of the following: 

National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) Certified Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)

UL Solutions Certified GMP

Here’s where it gets tricky: anyone can say they’re “GMP certified.” There are plenty of no-name third-party firms that out GMP certificates. They’re cheap, easy, and not all that meaningful.

But NSF and UL are different.

• They require more rigorous audits.
  
  
• They’re trusted by big retailers, regulatory bodies, and international buyers.
  
  
• They mean your manufacturer is held to a higher standard.

At Steuart, we started with a basic GMP certificate and worked our way up to NSF. And I’ll tell you, it’s not just a piece of paper. NSF forced us to build a bulletproof system that helps us catch problems before they happen.

There are plenty of quality supplement manufacturers out there. And we expect you to do your due diligence before you choose a partner. But whoever you choose, they should certainly have an NSF or UL certification.

Certifications Alone Aren’t Enough

Any manufacturer can clean their floors, stage their documents, and prepare for an audit once a year. You don’t want someone who passes audits, you want someone who lives quality every day.

That’s why reputable manufacturers will provide a Certificate of Analysis (COA) for every batch they put together, confirming products are free of contaminants, pass bacteria checks, ingredients are properly potent, shelf-life stable, and more. This extra step is an essential stage in the quality control process, and it’s standard practice for manufacturers with a commitment to quality.

At Steuart Nutrition, we don’t tighten up our processes the week before an audit. Our systems are embedded into our culture, from R&D to line operators and everyone in between.

It isn’t just a department for us. It’s a way of doing business.

Your Next Move

Want a manufacturer who’s already walked this path, and can walk it with you?
📞 Book a discovery call and let’s talk about how we build quality into every step.

Ben Steuart — CEO & Owner, Steuart Nutrition

‍

Ben Steuart is the co-founder and CEO of Steuart Nutrition, a contract manufacturing and supplement innovation partner for powder, liquid, and stick‑pack supplements. He launched the company in 2019 alongside his wife, Sarah, building on his lifelong roots in the food production industry, where he grew up working in his father's food-manufacturing business in Mabel, Minnesota.

Throughout his career, Ben has developed deep expertise in supplement manufacturing and business operations. At Steuart, he leads with a commitment to lean operations, fostering long-term partnerships, and delivering flexible, transparent service—prioritizing the client’s vision as much as his own. His leadership guided the business’s rapid expansion from a single facility to multiple locations, enabling agile responses to market needs—from producing hand sanitizer during the COVID‑19 pandemic to scaling CBD and nutrition supplement lines.