NOW uncovers quality issues for supplement brands sold on Amazon
NutraIngredients USA takes a tour of NOW’s facilities and an in-depth look at the company’s testing of supplements sold on Amazon that have uncovered serious quality issues over the last 6 years in an interview with CEO Jim Emme and VP of Global Sales and Marketing Dan Richard.
NOW tests various supplement brands sold on Amazon and finds many fail for potency and other quality issues.
In 2017, NOW started its award-winning industry self-policing program of testing unfamiliar brands found on Amazon. The program tests high-value products sold by emerging brands on Amazon at both internal and external labs, evaluating the results compared to label claims.
The goal is to provide consumers with knowledge on quality and testing of supplements so they can make informed purchases. When buying supplements for health and wellness, you should feel confident that what’s on the label is in the bottle, which is why NOW heavily invests in in-house testing labs and third-party testing and certifications to ensure customers of quality.
In June 2021, NOW received the NutraIngredients-USA Editors Award for Industry Initiative of the Year for shining a light on quality problems with some supplements sold on Amazon. Results of NOW’s systematic testing of select high-value products on Amazon received widespread trade media coverage, and other organizations began investigations. At the end of 2020, Amazon announced strict new requirements for supplement sellers and fine-tuned them with industry feedback. While Amazon has not stated that NOW’s exposé was the impetus, the timing suggests a correlation.
Supplement Category Testing Results
The following are supplement categories in which NOW purchased a variety of products from different brands sold on Amazon and tested them along with our own products. You can read the results of each category testing via the links below.
Award-Winning Testing
In 2022, NOW’s VP of Sales and Marketing Dan Richard, also a family owner of NOW, was recognized as Person of the Year: The Amazon.com Quality Activists for his significant efforts in quality testing. WholeFoods Magazine awarded this to Richard to shine a light on those who have taken a stand to help ensure quality and transparency, and in the process, to protect and support the independent natural products retailers, who helped build this industry long before online sales started to capture market share.
Also in 2021, NOW received the Nutrition Business Journal Award: Efforts on Behalf of Industry for the role played in getting Amazon to pass new requirements for supplement vendors.
