Business

Make the wisdom of transparency

work for your company—participate

in the OWL.

Why be in the Supplement OWL

Why is the Supplement OWL important for industry?

The Supplement OWL^® is an important self-regulatory initiative that starts with a simple premise: regulators need to know what ingredients and products are in the dietary supplement marketplace and who makes them. Companies that manufacture and market dietary supplements have a responsibility to share information with regulators to help them understand the size and breadth of the dietary supplement marketplace. A responsible industry wants the legal requirements to be enforced to promote a level playing field for all companies, and regulators need to be able to identify the companies to effectively enforce the law. As an industry-created and industry-managed initiative, the Supplement OWL provides a working model for an FDA-mandated registry, which has been previously proposed.

Why is self-regulation important?

Self-regulation is a hallmark of a mature, responsible industry that cares about its consumers. Self-regulation shows that the industry is willing to impose obligations on itself to ensure its products not only comply with the law, but help enhance regulation already in place. Self-regulatory initiatives such as the Supplement OWL^® help foster trust with industry stakeholders and demonstrate a desire to improve industry from within.

How do retailers benefit from the Supplement OWL?

The Supplement OWL^® provides retailers with an authoritative database to examine and evaluate labels of products on the market. The registry offers retailers a new decision point for improving their reputations as responsible vendors. As the Supplement OWL gains traction with retailers, product labels that are not in the registry may raise questions as to why these products are missing.

Why is it important for my company to have its labels in the Supplement OWL?

Demonstrating a commitment to transparency with regulators and consumers illustrates a company’s confidence that its products are compliant with regulations and reinforces the industry’s accountability to consumers. Having your company’s products and their labels in the Supplement OWL^® shows that you want your products to be viewed as part of the mainstream supplement marketplace and are willing to provide them for scrutiny. Retailers can also use the Supplement OWL to identify products and companies they want to offer to their consumers.

Register Today

Curating a More Complete Picture of the Supplement Marketplace

OVER

150

BRANDS
IN THE OWL

NOW

80%

OF U.S. ADULTS TAKE SUPPLEMENTS

OVER

13,000

PRODUCTS
IN THE OWL

Helping You Navigate the Dietary Supplement Marketplace

“The Supplement OWL is a great example of a self-regulatory mechanism created as a commitment to transparency for information on dietary supplement products. I encourage all to use this valuable online resource!”

Gian Zisa
Sr. Assoc. Dir. Regulatory Affairs, Bayer Healthcare

“Participation in the Supplement OWL demonstrates accountability and transparency in the dietary supplement industry, while providing value for those who take our products as well as our regulators.”

Guru Ramanathan
Principal, G Ramanathan LLC

“We are excited to be early adopters of the Supplement OWL, and our team continues to use this resource. The Supplement OWL provides significant value as it pertains to transparency and responsibility to the industry and its consumers.”

Aaron Bartz
President, Ortho Molecular Products, Inc.

Learn More About the Supplement OWL

What is the Supplement OWL?

The Supplement OWL^® (Online Wellness Library)—the dietary supplement product registry—is an industry-wide, self-regulatory initiative that is helping create a rich and more complete picture of the marketplace for consumers, businesses, and regulators. The Supplement OWL serves as a resource for these audiences to identify products, their ingredients and the companies who market them, and permit registry users to examine and evaluate labels and other product information.

Who is behind the Supplement OWL?

The Supplement OWL^® is a self-regulatory initiative of the dietary supplement industry, spearheaded by the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN).

The Supplement OWL went live in April of 2017, with a benchmark 10,000 labels in April of 2018, and is consistently growing as more companies realize the value of participation in this voluntary effort.

The Supplement OWL Advisory Board, convened in October 2017, is composed of stakeholders from all corners of the supplement industry and provides a forum to discuss the OWL’s progress.

What kind of information is listed?

The Supplement OWL^® entries include an image of the product, a complete product label, and various fields of information about the product such as: ingredients; dosage form; product claims from the label; and contact information. These records are available online for viewing by anyone using the Supplement OWL. Companies submitting their labels are also required to provide manufacturing and packaging facility contact information, accessible only to FDA, the regulatory body that oversees dietary supplement labeling. There is no cost to participate in the Supplement OWL.

Who can use the registry?

Anyone with web access can use the Supplement OWL^®.

Created by the dietary supplement industry as a self-regulatory tool to provide a more complete understanding of the marketplace and the range of products and ingredients to FDA, the Supplement OWL is also accessible to dietary supplements users seeking full transparency of the companies from which they purchase. Retailers and other business stakeholders are also frequent users of the OWL.