by Matt Weik
If you’ve been scrolling through your Facebook feed, you’ve probably seen an ad from Nutracap Labs. They claim to be of service when you’re starting a supplement company. Right on their homepage, it says, “Everything you need at one place – contract manufacturing, custom formulations, private label, design services, and fulfillment.” What they forgot to put there is that they apparently can’t meet labels claims and ownership has been under investigation by the FDA for a while and also carries a history for doing the exact same thing that’s going on right now.
News like this gets under my skin and we need to clean up this industry which means getting rid of the bad eggs. If you continue to get your hand slapped time and time again, bigger issues are going on that need to come with greater consequences.
There Are Times This Industry Pisses Me Off – This is One of Those Times
Everything I’m saying in this article is 100% public information and you can do a simple Google search to find everything I’m stating.
When you are starting a supplement company, one of the easiest methods to get your toes wet is to work with a contract manufacturer who can pretty much do everything for you, short of marketing and selling the product. They handle all of your formulations, design and make your labels, help you choose the right packaging, etc. Literally, anything you would need to think about and execute on when taking a product from an idea to a finished good can be handled by most contract manufacturers.
All that being said, when starting a supplement company, you’re probably getting into business to solve a problem and help people. Let’s say you partner with a contract manufacturer like Nutracap Labs.
They claim they can handle all of your needs under one roof. You think to yourself “that’s a great deal” and you shake hands. Then you read the news and find the FDA has been smacking around the owner for years and he was even indicted on Federal charges back when he owned another contract manufacturing facility (Duracap Labs) for putting illegal substances (anabolic steroids) into supplements without putting it on the label (which it makes sense why they wouldn’t put steroids on the label).
Apparently, the owner got off on the charges fairly easily which is probably why he’s back at it yet again. Honestly, this pisses me off more than anything. You messed up, got caught, and are right back at it again and having the FDA investigating you and your business. This puts a bullseye on the industry and gives everyone involved in it a black eye because you decided to be a shady MFer.
Most recently, Nutracap Labs received a warning letter from the FDA for having the actual contents of the product not matching what the label states, for including DMHA in products which all supplement companies were told to no longer use in their products, along with some other issues such as proper reporting.
This is not acceptable and if you are a supplement brand or thinking about starting a supplement company, I would highly suggest you look for a different manufacturer who you can trust.
If Starting a Supplement Company, You Need to Do Your Homework
Do you think when people were starting a supplement company that they went to Nutracap Labs thinking they probably don’t meet label claims and could potentially harm people because of it? John Meadows knows this firsthand when he was involved with a supplement company called Prime Nutrition (before starting Granite Supplements) where he had a feeling the products were not meeting label claims and spent his own money to get them tested only to find out he was right.
Here’s the interesting thing, in the past, I’ve looked into starting a supplement company. I saw the ads for Nutracap Labs and when looking at their website, it looks extremely professional and legit. I spoke with a few people in the industry about them and was told to pass on working with them – no exact reason why they told me no to work with them was given. It gave me an odd feeling that made me sit on my hands a little longer until before long I passed on the thought of even starting a supplement company.
But my whole reason for this article is to urge you to research contract manufacturers. Do your homework. Ask people in the industry about them. Do they have feedback or firsthand experience with them? Ask to come to visit their contract manufacturing facility and get a tour. Ask how they meet labels claims. What processes and procedures are in place to prevent issues from happening like what we are seeing with Nutracap Labs?
I want brands and consumers to get the best products possible and be safe using supplements. And the fact that we have deceptive people out there like Nutracap Labs who seem to focus more on their profitability than putting out quality products that meet label claims pisses me off.
Trust me, there are more “good guys” out there than there are “bad guys” in the industry. You just need to do your due diligence and ensure the “bad guys” don’t woo you over with a heavy dose of smoke and mirrors.
Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to make things even easier for you. Below are links that go over everything I mentioned above in detail. Again, it’s all public information, I’m not sharing anything that is confidential, and I want this to be an eye-opener to those starting a supplement company and hopefully forcing you to do your research on contract manufacturers before your brand ends up getting involved in a legal battle because some shady business your contract manufacturer was a part of.
Sources:
- https://www.consumerlab.com/recall_detail.asp?recallid=14400
- https://www.ajc.com/news/crime–law/fast-track-riches-harm-their-wake/XFqcGH3efOMTx9IDpUl9AN/
- https://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Article/2020/06/19/FDA-warns-contract-manufacturer-over-use-of-stimulant-DMHA
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxP86yu_tfo&list=WL&index=3
- https://blog.priceplow.com/industry-news/duracap-labs-indictment
