Not unlike the U.S., Canada has a thriving Dietary Supplements (Natural Health Products) industry largely led by continuously growing consumer interest in the benefits of a healthy diet and overall wellness.
This bodes well for U.S. businesses looking to sell Dietary Supplements into Canada whether offering Vitamins and minerals, Herbal remedies, Homeopathic medicines, Traditional medicines such as traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs), Probiotics and other products like amino acids and essential fatty acids (EFAs)
To export Natural Health Products into Canada, it is important to understand that the regulations and requirements that govern the industry differ from the U.S. Health Canada regulates Natural Health Products and is responsible in ensuring that products made in Canada or entering Canada are safe and effective. This is done through product registrations and licenses as well by providing regulatory oversight on the manufacturing, importation, sale, and distribution of products through a Site License.
Outsourced Site License and Support Services to get your products into Canada Quickly and Compliantly.
As a foreign brand entering Canada, you can choose to either apply for your own site license or outsource the services to a reliable reputable partner. For small to medium sized businesses, acquiring, and maintaining a site is expensive and can be risky. Partnering with our affiliated division, CCS Pharmaceuticals offers turnkey cost-effective site licensing and support solutions can help you get your products into Canada quickly and compliantly by:
- Acting as your Importer of Record
- Managing the warehousing, handling, and delivery of your imported natural health products through our a fully compliant Health Canada licensed facility.
- Maintaining clearly labeled and documented distribution records
- Supporting your product registrations, license amendments and renewals for your formulations and labels
- Having clear procedures in place for market recalls, adverse event reporting, consumer complaints, and returned goods
Our Facility and Team
We consider our facility and team to be an extension of your business. This provides assurance of a seamless supply chain from product manufacturing to importation and distribution.
- Our entire facility is compliant with Canada’s NNHPD Good Manufacturing practices. This includes our packaging and testing areas.
- We maintain a full-time Quality Assurance team onsite to review receiving reports; execute required sampling protocols and render release/reject decisions to help get your product to the market quickly and efficiently.
Getting Started
Several steps are required to prepare your products for export and failure to do so will result in the goods not being allowed to enter Canada. First and foremost, evidence of manufacturing, packaging, labeling in accordance with GMP requirements. From this, we establish a quality technical agreement with you to make sure all sections of the GMP are covered off by you and CCS Pharmaceuticals. This includes:
- Quality Control documents and Finished Product Specifications from an accredited laboratory providing evidence of identity, purity, potency, and quantity of ingredients. Our support services include assessing the eligibility of your formula for sale in Canada in accordance with Natural Health Product (NHP) regulations, and preparation of evidence reports to support health claims and dosage.
- Documentation of sanitation programs, quality assurance standards, product stability specifications and batch samples
- Written product release specifications for your dietary supplements as per Health Canada’s Quality of Natural Health Products guide.
- Stability data that your dietary supplement meets its shelf life at expiry.
- Product labels are in both English and French prior to exportation. We can assist you with label and collateral marketing material review as well product registrations, license amendments and renewals.
Please contact us if you would like to receive a quote or to learn more about how Total Health Centre can help.
