Understand Your Label

Understand Your Label

Every Sheni Labs bottle carries its own proof. The back label is not decoration — each element on it opens a door to the documentation behind your exact bottle. Here is how to read it, in simple language.

Back label of a Sheni Labs Vitamin D3 bottle with numbered markers: 1 Supplement Facts panel, 2 ingredients, 3 use and storage, 4 QR code, 5 web address, 6 LOT and expiry, 7 barcode

The numbers correspond to the guide below.

Sheni Labs Vitamin D3The product on this pageSheni Labs Vitamin D32,000 IU per dropView detailsBuy now

What each element means

Plain language, no jargon — the same label logic used in pharmaceutical packaging. Every statement carries its source: that is part of our DNA.

1Supplement FactsExactly what one drop gives you — the active form (cholecalciferol, vitamin D3), the amount (50 mcg / 2,000 IU), and how that compares to the daily reference value. No hidden blends. The amount on the label is the amount our independent laboratory measures in every batch.Source: EU Reg. 1169/2011 (food information) · Vitamin D full profile — supplement.ge
2Ingredients — the complete listEverything in the bottle, in order. For this product: the carrier oil and the vitamin, with its natural source named. If an ingredient is not on this line, it is not in the bottle.Source: EU Reg. 1169/2011, Art. 18 (ingredient lists)
3Suggested use & storageOne drop daily, and why storage matters: light and heat slowly destroy active ingredients — which is also why the bottle is amber glass. Following the storage line is what keeps the expiry date valid.Source: Ph.Eur. 3.2.1 (light-protective containers) · photodegradation explained — GMJ News
4The QR code — your fastest quality checkOpen your phone camera and scan. You go straight to the verification record for this production batch: the exact batch number, production and expiry dates, and the laboratory documentation of the supplement. No typing, no account, no personal details.Source: WHO: substandard and falsified medical products (2017) · how to read a CoA — GMJ News
5The web address — general product informationPrinted under the QR code (shenilabs.ge/d3). Typing this short address into any browser opens the product page — composition, science, dosage guidance, and testing standards. The QR answers “is my bottle verified?”; the web address answers “what is this product?”Source: Vitamin D3 product page · the science — shenilabs.ge
6LOT & EXP — your batch identityThe LOT / Batch Number identifies the production batch your bottle came from; EXP is its expiry. Prefer typing to scanning? Enter the LOT on Verify Your Product — you reach exactly the same verification record as the QR code. A product without a batch number cannot be traced or recalled — treat that as a warning sign on any supplement.Source: EU Reg. 178/2002, Art. 18 (traceability) · LOT explainer — GMJ News
7Barcode, recycling & originThe EAN barcode identifies the product in shops; the recycling mark covers the glass and packaging; and “Manufactured in the EU at sheni Labs” states where it was made — the same certified facility for every product in the line.Source: Facility certificates: GMP, ISO 22000, HACCP — full chain

Production standards: the Sheni Labs line is manufactured under vegan, gluten-free, cruelty-free, not-tested-on-animals production standards — declared in the manufacturer’s signed Statement of Standards and confirmed in writing (declarations held on file; copies on request). What a declaration is worth — GMJ News.

Why this matters

Food supplements are regulated as foods, not medicines. In the EU and most countries there is no pre-market approval: no authority tests a supplement before it reaches the shelf.[1] Responsibility for what is inside the bottle rests entirely with the producer — and independent market studies repeatedly find products with much less active ingredient than declared, substitutions, or contamination.[2] The WHO warns that substandard and falsified products routinely enter legitimate supply chains worldwide.[3]

In this world, a readable, checkable label is your main protection as a buyer. Knowing where the LOT number is, what the QR code opens, and what a Certificate of Analysis proves is not technical knowledge — it is basic health literacy, like reading a nutrition panel.

What to do — with any supplement, not only ours:

  • Look for a LOT / batch number and expiry date. No batch number means no traceability — and no recall if something is wrong.[4]
  • Check whether the producer offers batch-level verification and published laboratory documents. A brand that tests every batch will show you the paperwork.
  • Read the ingredients line, not the front of the pack. The front is marketing; the back is regulated information.[5]
  • Check the packaging against the ingredient: light-sensitive actives in clear bottles, or daily oils in plastic, are quality warnings in themselves (see below).
  • If a product fails these checks, ask the seller for the Certificate of Analysis. The reaction tells you everything.[6]

Why amber glass — and the microplastics question

The bottle itself is part of the quality system, chosen for two documented reasons:

1. Light protection. Amber UV-filtering glass lets through less than 10% of light below 450 nm — the range in which vitamin D3 and other fat-soluble actives break down. Clear packaging gives no real protection; amber glass is the pharmacopoeial standard for light-sensitive oral liquids.[7]

2. Inertness — the microplastics and heavy-exposure question. Glass is chemically inert: it sheds nothing into the product, and nothing migrates from it. Plastic is different. A widely cited analysis of 259 bottled waters found microplastic particles in 93% of samples,[8] and research shows plastic packaging can release micro- and nanoplastics into its contents — with fatty, oil-based liquids of particular concern for migration, which is exactly why EU food-contact law sets strict migration limits for plastics.[9] Health effects of long-term microplastic intake are still being studied;[10] our position is simpler: for a daily oil taken over years, we remove the question entirely by using glass (full explainer — GMJ News). The only plastic part — the dropper — carries its own food-contact compliance documents (see the packaging stage of the documentation chain). Heavy metals are handled the same way: not assumed safe, but measured — every batch is tested by ICP-MS against strict international limits.[11]

All certificates & testing, product by product

Everything described on this page is documented. Each product has its own page with the full nine-stage documentation chain — facility certificates, every test with its plain-language “why”, packaging declarations, transport, Georgian state registration, and storage.

See the full Quality & Certifications overview →

References

  1. Directive 2002/46/EC on food supplements; Regulation (EC) 178/2002 (general food law). Explainer — GMJ News.
  2. Crawford C et al. Analysis of select dietary supplement products marketed to support or boost the immune system. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(8):e2226040. Explainer — GMJ News.
  3. WHO. A study on the public health and socioeconomic impact of substandard and falsified medical products. Geneva: WHO; 2017.
  4. Regulation (EC) 178/2002, Art. 18 (traceability). Explainer — GMJ News.
  5. Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 (food information to consumers).
  6. How to read a supplement Certificate of Analysis. GMJ News.
  7. Ph.Eur. 3.2.1 (glass containers for pharmaceutical use); Why B12 needs amber glass: cobalamin photodegradation. GMJ News.
  8. Mason SA, Welch VG, Neratko J. Synthetic polymer contamination in bottled water. Front Chem. 2018;6:407. Explainer — GMJ News.
  9. Regulation (EC) 1935/2004; Regulation (EU) 10/2011 (plastic food-contact materials).
  10. WHO. Microplastics in drinking-water. Geneva: WHO; 2019.
  11. ICH Q3D (R2): Guideline for elemental impurities — permitted daily exposures, oral route.
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