The Hive · by Supplement Factory
The Hive is Supplement Factory's client platform. It mirrors published claim registers and market rules for the UK, EU, US and Australia, alerts you to changes in the sources it monitors, and keeps your quotes, orders and signed documents in one place, so you can check them before the artwork goes to print or the slot is booked.
The Hive brings PRAS+ alerts, your Vault, and your quotes and orders into one account. For business customers only.
The Hive mirrors published registers, including the GB and EU claim registers and GB novel food status. We do not publish counts for those. The US, Californian and Australian registers listed below hold over 9,000 entries as at the date of publication.
over 5,000
permissible ingredients for the Australian market
Therapeutic Goods Administration · publisher terms of use apply
over 1,300
GRAS notices for the United States
US Food and Drug Administration · public domain
over 1,300
new dietary ingredient notifications for the United States
US Food and Drug Administration · public domain
over 1,000
permitted indications for the Australian market
Therapeutic Goods Administration · publisher terms of use apply
over 900
Proposition 65 listed chemicals for California
California OEHHA · publisher terms of use apply
Figures are stated as "over" because the registers are re-imported on a schedule and grow. The Hive is not affiliated with, or approved by, any regulator.
The heart of it
Here are five that supplement brands commonly run into, and each can be checked in advance. What they have in common is timing: each is easier to fix before you have stock.
Many authorised health claims carry a minimum amount per serving, and below that amount the claim is not yours to make even though the ingredient is on your label.
You build a formulation around an ingredient, write the claim the ingredient is famous for, and print it. The ingredient is genuinely present. The claim is still not available to you, because the authorised entry attaches a condition of use: a quantity per serving, sometimes a form of the ingredient, sometimes a target population. Miss the threshold by a few milligrams and the claim is void in exactly the same way it would be if the ingredient were absent.
This is the one that hurts, because nothing looks wrong. The product is safe, the ingredient is real, the label is beautiful, and the claim carrying your entire marketing story cannot be substantiated. You may find out from a retailer's compliance team, a marketplace listing takedown, or an enforcement officer. The remedy can be a reformulation or a reprint, and by then you may have stock.
The Hive holds the dose conditions attached to each authorised claim, not just the claim text, so you can compare the amount your formulation delivers with the amount the claim requires before you commit.
Claims Explorer · Supplement Genius
The register records claims that are not permitted as well as claims that are, and the not-permitted half is the one most brands never get to see.
The wording gets written by a marketer, approved by a founder, and set by a designer. Nobody in that chain checked whether the claim exists on the authorised list, or whether the phrasing still carries the authorised meaning after it was made to sound better. Rewording an authorised claim into something punchier is one of the most common ways to lose it.
A label reprint is one outcome. Others can include a delisting by a retailer who audits claims, a marketplace suspension, an advertising ruling, or an enforcement action.
The Hive lets you look up a claim before it is written. Authorised entries appear with their permitted wording; entries that are on the register as not permitted appear as exactly that, so a claim can be checked at the idea stage rather than at the artwork stage.
Claims Explorer · Artwork and label compliance
An ingredient that is perfectly legal in one market can be restricted, capped or prohibited in the next one, and the batch does not travel.
You sell successfully at home, a distributor asks for volume in another country, and you ship the formulation you already make. Permitted ingredient lists, maximum levels and forms differ by jurisdiction, and so do the labelling requirements around them. The formulation that was compliant on the way out is not compliant on the way in.
Stock can be stranded in a bonded warehouse, a distributor relationship can be damaged early, and a market can be closed to you for as long as it takes to reformulate and re-manufacture.
Market Registrations puts the requirements for each target market in one place, so you can ask "can this formulation be sold there" before the container is booked rather than after it lands.
Market Registrations
An ingredient with no significant history of consumption in a market before its cut-off date is a novel food there, and it cannot be sold until it is authorised.
The ingredient is exciting, the supplier is confident, and the trend is moving. What is missing is an authorisation. Novel food status is a per-market judgement with its own evidence process and its own timeline, and a supplier saying "everyone is using it" is not a status check.
Withdrawal. Not a reprint or a relabel: product off the shelf, an authority notified, and a launch you have already spent marketing budget on. Authorisation can take a long time, so "we will sort it out later" is not a recovery plan.
The Hive holds novel food entries alongside the claims and ingredient data, so you can look up status at formulation rather than assume it from a supplier datasheet.
Supplement Genius · Claims Explorer
Regulations move continuously, they are published across many separate bodies, and none of them will write to tell you that your product is now the exception.
The product was compliant when you launched. Then a limit was lowered, a claim was withdrawn, an ingredient was restricted, or a contaminant threshold moved. Nothing about your stock changed. Its compliance did.
At best you carry quietly non-compliant stock and find out at your next retailer audit. At worst it is a recall. Either way you may be the last to know, which is the part that can be avoided.
PRAS+ alerts you to changes in the sources it monitors, for the categories you select. It may not cover every change. It is included for Supplement Factory customers.
PRAS+
None of this is advice about your product. It is the register, the rule and the record, put where you can read them. What you do with that is yours. Responsibility for your label and claims stays with you as brand owner, as our terms set out, except where you have bought our compliance review.
Side by side
The difference is that the information you need to avoid an expensive mistake sits in one account before you order, rather than across emails and attachments. The left column describes a way of working, not any particular company.
| Where it bites | An email-and-PDF process | Supplement Factory + The Hive |
|---|---|---|
| Label claims | Wording is checked by whoever remembers to, against whichever list is to hand. | You can look a claim up before it is written, see its permitted wording, and see the dose the claim requires. |
| Entering a new market | Market rules are looked up when someone thinks to ask, sometimes after the formulation is fixed. | Market requirements sit in your account, so you can ask the question before the container is booked. The decision stays with you, with the rules in front of you. |
| Rule changes after launch | Changes are found by chance, or reported by a customer, a retailer or an enforcement officer. | PRAS+ alerts you to changes in the sources it monitors, for the categories you select. It may not cover every change. Included for Supplement Factory customers. |
| Your documents | Specifications, terms, certificates and signed orders sit in email threads across several people. | The Vault holds your signed orders, terms and documents under your account. Certificates of analysis and release documents for your order are filed to your Vault after release. |
| Quotes and orders | A PDF by email, revised by email, chased by email, so it can be unclear which price is current. | Quotes are issued, revised, signed online and stored in one place. You can see your estimated slot and order progress. Dates are confirmed in your order. |
| Testing | Arranged by email and quoted separately each time, with results returned as attachments. | Test My Supplement shows matching tests and prices on screen. Access is included and tests are charged. Certificates are filed to your Vault, and every membership level carries a discount on testing. |
| Artwork | Artwork goes back and forth as PDFs, and approval is a reply in an inbox. | Artwork approvals and uploads run through the Hive, against your Product Standard. |
| Who is responsible for your label | It is often unclear who has checked what, because the record is spread across inboxes. | Responsibility for your label and claims stays with you as brand owner, as our terms set out, except where you have bought our compliance review. The Hive shows you the register and the record before you spend. |
Scroll the table sideways to see both columns.
Inside the Hive
Eight tools, each related to a specific mistake brands can make. They are listed here against the mistake they relate to, not against a feature grid.
Relates to Mistakes 01 and 02
Search the health claim register by ingredient, by claim or by body system. You see the permitted wording, the conditions of use including the dose the claim requires, and the entries that are recorded as not permitted. It helps you check a claim before a designer sets it in type.
Relates to Mistake 03
The requirements for each market you are considering, in one place: what has to be notified, what is restricted, what a label has to carry. It helps you ask whether a formulation can be sold in a market while the question is still cheap to ask.
Relates to Mistake 05
PRAS+ alerts you to changes in the sources it monitors, for the categories you select. It may not cover every change. Regulatory alerts and recall notices are included for Supplement Factory customers.
Relates to Mistakes 01, 02 and 04
Ask a regulatory question in plain English. Supplement Genius is designed to answer from the registers and show the entry, publisher and date. Check the source before relying on an answer. It tells you what the register says, not what to do about your product.
Relates to The mistake of not being able to prove it later
Signed orders, terms, specifications and certificates are filed under your account and available to you there, so you are not searching an old email thread when a retailer asks for documentation.
Relates to The mistake of claiming what you have not verified
Scan a label, see which tests match the ingredients, see the price on screen, send it in. Results and certificates are filed to your Vault. Access is included and tests are charged. Every membership level carries a discount on testing.
Relates to Mistake 02
Artwork approvals and uploads run inside the Hive and are part of the Hive. Design and compliance services are priced separately, per project.
Relates to The mistake of not asking
Message your concierge and book a client care call. Concierge Lite on Hive Plus covers messages and booked calls, and we aim to reply as quickly as we can. The full service on Hive Pro adds priority handling and arranges the travel and hospitality benefits for you.
Claims Explorer, Market Registrations and Supplement Genius are membership tools. The other tools above are part of the Hive, with tests charged.
Supplement Genius
Supplement Genius is an AI assistant. It is designed to answer from the registers and show the entry, publisher and date. Check the source before relying on an answer.
The register entry behind an answer, the body that published it and the date, so you can open the source and read it yourself.
It tells you what the register says. It does not tell you what to do about your product, and it does not replace your own regulatory or legal counsel.
Membership
Keeping the registers imported, matched to ingredients and checked is a continuing cost, which is why some tools sit in membership.
The Hive comes in three levels: The Hive, Hive Plus and Hive Pro. Claims Explorer, Market Registrations and Supplement Genius are membership tools. For business customers only.
Your Hive account
Everything you need to buy from us, and the alert system that tells you about changes in the sources it monitors.
Membership
Brand support, and the factory door opens easier.
Membership
The full service, with arrangements booked for you.
For business customers only. Full pricing detail.
The manufacturer half
Supplement Factory Ltd, a United Kingdom contract manufacturer of food supplements, provides the Hive to the brands it makes for.
Your quote, specification and documents are shown in your project in the Hive, so you do not have to ask for a copy.
Capsules, tablets, softgels, powders, sachets, stickpacks, liquids and gummies, in the pack formats each of those runs in.
Analytical testing is matched to your ingredients and priced up front. Access is included and tests are charged. Certificates are filed to your Vault, and every membership tier carries a discount on testing.
A formulation team, a project pipeline you can watch, and a configurator that shows you what a change to a dose or a pack does to the cost before you commit to it.
Quotes you sign online and your signed orders are filed to your Vault, so you are not searching an old inbox to see what was agreed.
Inside a project
Each product Supplement Factory makes for you has its own project in the Hive, showing the stage it is at, what is done and what comes next. You can see your estimated slot and order progress. Dates are confirmed in your order.
Step 1 · Website
Tell Supplement Factory about your product: format, ingredients, markets and quantities.
Step 2 · Website to Hive
Review your quote and sign it online. Your brief is captured once and reused.
Step 3 · Hive
Follow each formulation stage live, give sample feedback in one thread and track deliveries.
Step 4 · Hive
Approve label content and artwork against your Product Standard, the approved record of your formulation, label content and specification in the Hive.
Step 5 · Hive and factory
Certificates of analysis and release documents for your order are filed to your Vault after release.
Step 6 · Website and Hive
Ask the formulation team, book a call and reorder from the same account.
Each brand's projects and documents are kept separate, and other brands cannot see them. Access is set by role, so people in your team see what their role needs. Specified sensitive actions need a second person to approve them. Changes to projects, specifications and documents are recorded in an audit trail.
Questions go to the formulation team, not to one person's inbox. We aim to reply as quickly as we can. We offer a kick-off call at the start of every new project.
Straight answers
These are answers about how the rules work and what the Hive shows you. They are not advice about your product, and nothing here replaces your own regulatory or legal counsel.
There is no product licence or pre-approval in Great Britain, but you must register as a food business with your local authority.
What is required instead is a notification to the relevant authority in some jurisdictions, a compliant label, a safe and permitted formulation, and a business behind it that meets food law. Several markets you may want to export to work differently, which is why market rules are a separate question from British ones. The Hive keeps market registration requirements in one place so you can check the rule before you commit to a country.
In general, claims that appear on the authorised list for the market you are selling in, used in wording that has the same meaning as the authorised entry, and only where your product meets the conditions of use attached to that claim.
In Great Britain, listed health claims that are on hold may continue to be used on conditions, so check the register for the current status of any claim. Two things trip brands up. First, an ingredient being present is not enough: many authorised claims carry a minimum amount per serving, and below it the claim is not available to you even though the ingredient is on your label. Second, claims that are not permitted are recorded on the register too. The Hive shows the authorised entries, the not-permitted entries and the dose conditions.
An MOQ is a minimum order quantity: the smallest run a manufacturer, or an individual ingredient supplier, will produce or sell.
It matters because it is where a formulation decision can become a cost decision. Reducing a dose can drop an ingredient below its supplier MOQ, at which point your unit cost can go up rather than down. Changing pack format changes the machine, the line, the labour and often the MOQ with it. Your quote should state the quantities it is priced at, and the Hive keeps your quotes in your account so you can compare like with like.
It depends on the formulation, the pack format, ingredient lead times and the production slot available, so the answer for your product is the one on your quote.
The parts that are often underestimated are the ones before the machine runs: sourcing ingredients with long lead times, artwork approval, and any testing you have committed to. You can see your estimated slot and order progress in the Hive. Dates are confirmed in your order.
Ownership is decided by the contract you sign, not by who mixed the powder, which is why the wording matters.
Ask before you order, get the answer in writing, and keep it somewhere you can find it. Quotes and orders you sign in the Hive are filed to your Vault, so the terms you agreed to are available to you in your account rather than in an old email thread.
Each brand's projects and documents are kept separate, and other brands cannot see them.
Access is set by role, so people in your team see what their role needs. Specified sensitive actions need a second person to approve them. Changes to projects, specifications and documents are recorded in an audit trail.
We aim to reply as quickly as we can.
Questions go to the formulation team rather than one person's inbox. We offer a kick-off call at the start of every new project.
The Product Standard is the approved record of your formulation, label content and specification in the Hive.
You approve artwork against it, so label content and specification are held in one place rather than in PDFs copied between emails.
The rule can change while your stock does not, which is how a compliant product can become a non-compliant one.
Rule changes are published across many bodies and are not sent to you. PRAS+ alerts you to changes in the sources it monitors, for the categories you select. It may not cover every change. It is included for Supplement Factory customers.
No. The Hive is for business customers only.
Responsibility for your label and claims stays with you as brand owner, as our terms set out, except where you have bought our compliance review.
The Hive brings PRAS+ alerts, your Vault, and your quotes and orders into one account. For business customers only.
