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A bill in Congress would make supplement makers list every product with the FDA
Today the FDA doesn't have a complete list of the supplements sold in the US. The Dietary Supplement Listing Act, now in both the Senate and the House, would change that. What it would require, why it keeps stalling, and what it would mean for anyone checking a label.
What happened
On 20 April 2026, Rep. Maxine Dexter, M.D. (D-Oregon) introduced the Dietary Supplement Listing Act in the House. It matches a Senate bill, S.3677, that Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) introduced on 15 January 2026.
The bill would require every company selling a dietary supplement in the US to list each product with the FDA, giving:
- the product's name
- a full list of its ingredients
- an electronic copy of the label
- allergen statements
- any health or structure/function claims (statements like "supports bone health")
Under the Senate version, a product that isn't listed could be treated as misbranded. Both bills have been referred to committee and have not yet had a vote. This is Durbin's third try: similar bills in 2022 and 2024 did not pass, and he retires from the Senate in January 2027. Some industry groups, including the Natural Products Association, have said they oppose it.
Why it matters
Supplements are regulated very differently from medicines. Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, supplements don't need FDA approval before they go on sale, and companies don't have to tell the FDA which products they sell. Durbin estimates that the number of supplement products has grown from about 4,000 to around 100,000 in that time. Dexter's office says sales have grown from about $4 billion to more than $50 billion a year over the past 30 years, and that more than three-quarters of American adults take a supplement.
Her office also cites the FDA's numbers on side effects: more than 2,000 adverse event reports about supplements in 2023, against an FDA estimate that the true number is above 50,000 a year because most problems are never reported. Without a product list, it is harder for the FDA to trace a reported problem back to a specific product, or to know what is on the market when it issues a warning.
What it means for you
A public product list would not prove that a supplement works or is safe. Listing is not approval. But it would make it easier to check what a product claims to contain and to spot products that change their formula or their claims.
Until then, a few habits help:
- Read the Supplement Facts panel, not just the front of the box, and look for the amount of each ingredient.
- Look for independent testing seals (such as USP or NSF), which check that the label matches what's inside.
- If you have a side effect from a supplement, report it to the FDA through MedWatch. Reports are how problems get noticed.
- Bring the bottle, or a photo of the label, to your doctor or pharmacist.
Sources
- Rep. Maxine Dexter, "Dexter Introduces Bill to Bring Transparency to Multi-Billion Dollar Supplement Industry" (20 April 2026)
- NutraIngredients, "Mid-year 2026: Regulatory updates from the US supplement industry" (17 July 2026)
- Congress.gov, S.3677: Dietary Supplement Listing Act of 2026
- NutraIngredients, "Sen. Durbin reintroduces Dietary Supplement Listing Act again" (15 January 2026)
- FDA MedWatch: report a problem
We summarise news in our own words and link to the original reporting and the primary sources. This is general information, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before starting or changing any supplement.