Trust

How to vet a contract manufacturer

The fear that keeps first-time founders up at night is wiring money to a maker who turns out to be unreliable, misrepresented, or gone. You reduce that risk the same way we build our listings: check facts against more than one independent source, insist on documents, and never let a friendly sales call substitute for evidence. Here is the checklist to run before you pay.

1. Verify the certifications, don't just read them

A logo on a website is a claim. Turn each one into a checkable fact:

• cGMP. Ask which facility runs under 21 CFR 111 cGMP and ask for evidence (audit date, the registrar). A maker with real systems answers this easily.
• FDA facility registration. Manufacturing facilities register with the FDA. Remember the FDA does not approve supplements, so "FDA approved product" is a warning sign in itself.
• NSF / USP. These independent programs publish participating facilities. If a maker names one, you can often confirm it at the program's own source, not just the maker's site.
• Third-party lab. Ask who does their testing and whether it is in-house or independent. Independent testing is the stronger signal.

This is exactly what our directory does for you up front: each listing shows the certifications a maker's materials name, the registry status, and a cross-source corroboration count, each linked to where it came from. We publish the facts and the sources; you draw the conclusion.

2. Demand samples and a Certificate of Analysis

Never scale on a promise. Before a full run:

• Get physical samples and, ideally, have a batch independently tested.
• Read the Certificate of Analysis (COA). The COA states what the lab actually found in the product: identity, potency, and contaminant screens (heavy metals, microbials). A maker who hesitates to provide a COA is telling you something.
• Match the COA to the label. If the label says 500mg and the COA says something else, stop and ask why.

3. Read the contract terms carefully

Most disputes are not dramatic, they are boring contract terms nobody checked. Confirm, in writing:

4. Warning signs that should stop a deal

None of these is proof of anything on its own, but two or three together is a reason to slow down and dig, or walk away:

• Pressure to pay fast, in full, or by irreversible methods only.
• Reluctance to share a COA, a facility address, or references.
• Claims that don't survive a second source (a certification you can't confirm anywhere else).
• "FDA approved" claims about a supplement product, or a promise of a specific health outcome.
• A price far below every comparable quote. If it looks too good, get the COA and the references before anything else.
• No consistent business identity across sources, or a web presence that appeared last month.

5. Let the directory do the first pass

You do not have to run every check by hand from a cold start. Our listings already gather the checkable facts, cross-source them, and stamp when we last confirmed them, so you begin your own due diligence from a shortlist instead of a search box.