NOW Foods (supplements)

NOW operates accredited in-house labs (ISO/IEC 17025 via A2LA) and discloses robust supplier and finished-product testing, often corroborated by external labs. However, COA access for supplements is not public and user reports show mixed responses to COA requests, slightly tempering an otherwise strong quality profile.

Formulations show broad use of reputable ingredient forms and full label disclosure on sampled products, with several branded actives. The main ding is an emerging pattern of mineral complexes that include oxide, which is less bioavailable than fully chelated forms, but this does not appear to dominate the line.

NOW is unusually open about methods, facilities, and third-party certifications, and it regularly publishes testing projects. However, the brand does not offer a public supplements COA portal and some consumers report refusals to individual COA requests, keeping transparency just shy of an A.

Safety is pulled down by an ongoing magnesium-labeling class action and two older FDA-posted recalls in the food division. We applied an industry-context adjustment because the recalls were not for supplements; no FDA supplement warning letters were found.

NOW tends to undercut or match major competitors on high-volume commodities (e.g., creatine) while offering lab infrastructure unusual at its price point; vitamins/minerals trend market-rate depending on retailer.

Reputation is generally favorable in consumer communities and BBB records, with NOW seen as a dependable, widely available value brand; online reviews surface isolated concerns but not a consistent pattern of serious issues.