The supplement industry is riddled with a shocking lack of transparency, leaving consumers in the dark about what they're actually ingesting! SuppCo is stepping up to the plate with a brand-new certification program designed to shine a bright light on the active ingredients in dietary supplements, aiming to rebuild trust one bottle at a time. This initiative isn't just a new badge; it's a powerful extension of their existing TrustScore system and builds upon a concerning reality: nearly half of the top-selling supplements they've tested have failed to meet even the most basic label accuracy standards.
Steve Martocci, the co-founder and CEO of SuppCo, revealed the driving force behind this endeavor: "SuppCo was born out of my own frustration trying to make informed decisions about supplements, and I quickly realized this wasn’t a personal challenge but a systemic failure of the industry." He passionately added, "With TESTED by SuppCo, we’re setting a clear, independent standard for transparency and accountability so people can finally trust what they’re buying, and responsible brands can prove it." This bold move is launching with the support of esteemed brands like Momentous, Thorne, Metagenics, Gaia Herbs, Designs for Health, Fatty15, Solaray, Niagen, Integrative Therapeutics, and Pendulum.
Certifying What's Actually on the Shelf – And Exposing the Failures
Jordan Glenn, SuppCo's head of science, explained that this certification is a natural progression from their previous testing of around 44 popular supplements bought directly from Amazon. The results were eye-opening, confirming that approximately 50% of these products didn't contain the active ingredients listed on their labels. This new certification goes hand-in-hand with their TrustScore feature, which already evaluates formulation, manufacturing standards, and transparency before a product even hits a lab. "TESTED tells you what’s actually in the bottle you buy off the shelf," Glenn stated. "Together they create a closed loop where TrustScore helps users identify products that should be trustworthy, and TESTED confirms whether that trust holds up in the real world."
SuppCo's initial deep dives focused on supplements for creatine, NAD+, urolithin A, and berberine. The findings were stark: 22 of the tested products contained a mere 0% to 3% of their advertised active ingredients. What's particularly concerning is that brands boasting the largest serving sizes were often found to be masking a severe lack of active compounds. SuppCo's 2025 testing retrospective highlighted this, noting, "These aren’t borderline misses of ‘close enough’ results, they’re evidence of breakdowns at nearly every level of quality control, from raw ingredient sourcing to final formulation verification." They further elaborated on the potential culprits: "Whether the cause was manufacturing shortcuts, supplier variability, lack of internal testing or intentional deception somewhere in the supply chain, the end result was the same: products that made confident claims yet delivered almost none of what they promised."
The TESTED by SuppCo process involves rigorous independent testing by an ISO 17025–accredited laboratory. Products that successfully demonstrate at least 95% of their labeled active ingredient claims are granted certification. Crucially, all test results, whether they lead to certification or not, are made public on SuppCo's product pages, empowering consumers with the knowledge to make truly informed choices. "With over 650,000 users actively tracking their supplement routines on SuppCo, certification results, including failures, are surfaced directly to the people making purchase decisions," Glenn pointed out. "That visibility is an important complement to existing certifications, which are valuable but were not designed with a direct consumer audience in mind."
To ensure ongoing integrity, testing is conducted annually. Products that falter are guided through a remediation process before being re-evaluated. Brands are responsible for a certification fee that covers the costs of this independent testing, program management, and licensing.
Overcoming Structural Issues and Closing a 'Meaningful Loophole'
SuppCo isn't the first to highlight discrepancies in the supplement market, especially as the industry emphasizes self-regulation and good manufacturing practices. "The supplement industry is at an inflection point," Glenn observed. "Consumer expectations are rising, regulatory scrutiny is increasing and independent verification is becoming a baseline expectation rather than a differentiator." He emphasized that brands joining TESTED at its inception recognize that genuine transparency is the only sustainable competitive advantage in an increasingly crowded market. In this new landscape, verification, accountability, and transparency are no longer optional extras but fundamental requirements. "It’s easy for brands to talk about quality and boast big claims about their products, but it’s much harder to prove it," stated Jeff Byers, CEO of Momentous. "We chose to participate in TESTED by SuppCo because trust and accountability are how this industry moves forward. Transparency should not be optional and the brands that stand behind their products, like we do, should be willing to step up to the plate and prove it."
While organizations like ConsumerLab, NSF International, and the United States Pharmacopeia have long strived to ensure label accuracy, purity, and quality, SuppCo argues that its certification addresses a fundamental flaw in how testing is typically conducted. "Most existing certifications rely on manufacturer-submitted samples or tests from production lots," Glenn explained. "TESTED purchases products anonymously, off the shelf, after normal retail aging, the same way a consumer would. That distinction closes a meaningful loophole where a product can pass a certification test using a carefully selected lot and still underdeliver in the bottle a consumer actually opens." But here's where it gets controversial: could this 'loophole' be intentionally exploited by some brands to pass muster while still cutting corners?
Other companies, including the prominent natural product manufacturer NOW Foods, have also undertaken their own extensive testing of supplements, largely sourced from Amazon. These efforts have consistently uncovered widespread issues with supplement labeling and potency. NOW Foods, through its self-policing program, has conducted 19 rounds of testing on various brands since 2017, examining ingredients like St. John’s Wort, methyl B-12, SAM-e, resveratrol, and creatine, among many others. Their findings have been consistently alarming, often described as "alarming," "abysmal," or "persistent," serving as a stark warning to consumers. Do you believe that relying on manufacturer self-testing, even with good intentions, is enough to safeguard consumers, or is an independent, blind testing approach like SuppCo's the only true solution? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
