Food Supplements (Commercial)

Can I take Food Supplements (Commercial) across a border? Yes in many places, with conditions. Of the 21 country-rules we've indexed for Food Supplements (Commercial), 16 are allowed (often with limits), 5 are restricted (permit, declaration, or quantity cap), and 0 are prohibited outright. Customs rules depend on the destination, the purpose (travelling, posting, importing personally, or importing commercially), and the quantity.

Food supplements and dietary supplements include vitamins, minerals, herbal extracts, protein powders, pre-workouts, and other products sold in capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid form for health or fitness purposes. They occupy a regulatory gray area between food and medicine in most jurisdictions. The dietary supplement market is enormous — the global market exceeds USD 150 billion annually — and is dominated by the US, where a relatively permissive regulatory framework under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA) allows a very wide range of products to be sold with minimal pre-market oversight. This permissive US framework exists alongside far stricter regimes in other major markets, creating significant import compliance challenges for products that are legally sold in the US but would be classified as unregistered medicines or prohibited food additives in other countries. The European Union regulates food supplements under the Food Supplements Directive (2002/46/EC) and has positive lists of permitted vitamins and minerals with approved forms and maximum levels. The EU also has maximum limits on botanical ingredients based on safety assessments, and ingredients that are not on the permitted list cannot be freely marketed. Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) operates a complementary medicines framework with listed medicines (low-risk, AUST L numbers) and registered medicines (higher-risk, AUST R numbers) — products must be listed or registered before sale. Ingredients common in US pre-workout supplements such as DMAA (1,3-dimethylamylamine), DMHA, and high-dose caffeine are prohibited or controlled in EU, Australian, and New Zealand markets. Herbal supplements containing ephedra/ephedrine, kava at doses above certain levels, or aristolochic acid are banned or heavily restricted in many jurisdictions.

Common mistakes with Food Supplements (Commercial)

• Assuming the rules at the origin apply at the destination — they don't. The destination customs authority is the binding rule.
• Travelling and posting are treated differently: an item you can carry may be prohibited by post (and vice versa).
• Personal vs commercial intent: above a quantity threshold, customs may treat your shipment as commercial regardless of intent.
• Undervaluing on the customs declaration to avoid duty — treated as fraud in most jurisdictions.
• Vague item descriptions on CN22/CN23 — biggest single cause of postal customs holds.
• Missing required certificates (phytosanitary, veterinary, CITES, prescription, product compliance).

Always verify against the destination's customs authority before acting. Not legal advice.

HS codes

• 2106.90 — Other food preparations not elsewhere specified or included
• 2936 — Provitamins and vitamins, natural or reproduced by synthesis

Regulatory trend

https://efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/food-supplements — EU EFSA novel food reviews expanding; Singapore HSA 2022 strengthened supplement pre-approval

General notes

Also documented for posting & importing