This is part of CRN’s Associate Member Spotlight series and reflects the views, opinions, and expertise of the featured member company, FoodChain ID. The content is provided for informational purposes only and does not represent the views, positions, or policies of the Council for Responsible Nutrition.
As supplement companies continue expanding across global markets, regulatory strategy is becoming increasingly tied to innovation success, speed to market, and long-term commercial scalability.
While many U.S. companies are highly familiar with FDA requirements, international expansion introduces additional layers of complexity—particularly when navigating Europe’s Novel Food framework and Canada’s Natural Health Product (NHP) regulations.
Why it matters: One of the most common challenges for supplement brands and ingredient suppliers is that an ingredient considered acceptable in one jurisdiction may face entirely different scientific and regulatory expectations elsewhere. For example, ingredients marketed in the U.S. under Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) or New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) pathways may still require Novel Food authorization in the European Union, potentially leading to unexpected delays, reformulation efforts, or additional safety data requests.
At the same time, regulatory expectations are evolving rapidly. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) continues to increase the requirements for novel food approvals , increasing scrutiny around ingredient characterization, toxicology, bioavailability, nanoparticle assessment, and allergenicity. Canada also has detailed requirements for products under the NHP regulations, including pre-approval with safety and efficacy justification required.
For regulatory, scientific, and innovation teams, these developments reinforce the importance of integrating global compliance considerations earlier in the product development process — not only to reduce risk, but also to support more efficient international growth strategies.
To help industry stakeholders better understand these evolving frameworks, FoodChain ID, in partnership with Nutraceuticals World, is hosting an educational webinar exploring:
- key differences between FDA, EFSA/European Commission, and Health Canada expectations
- Novel Food considerations in Europe
- NDI and GRAS in the U.S.
- Canadian NHP compliance requirements
- scientific substantiation trends
- proactive approaches to reducing regulatory delays
Register for the webinar here.
Go deeper: Learn more about FoodChain ID’s supplement regulatory and scientific expertise here.