Understand Your Label

Understand Your Label

Every SHENI 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 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 Vitamin D3The product on this pageSHENI 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
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
5The web address — general product informationPrinted under the QR code (sheni.fr/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 — sheni.fr
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
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” 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 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.

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). 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, transportn 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.
  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.
  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.
  5. Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 (food information to consumers).
  6. How to read a supplement Certificate of Analysis. .
  7. Ph.Eur. 3.2.1 (glass containers for pharmaceutical use); Why B12 needs amber glass: cobalamin photodegradation. .
  8. Mason SA, Welch VG, Neratko J. Synthetic polymer contamination in bottled water. Front Chem. 2018;6:407. Explainer.
  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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