Question
Are supplement capsules vegetarian?
Similar-looking capsules can use different shell materials. Read both the shell information and the rest of the supplement label.
Part of Animal ingredients · Halal and kosher
A capsule gives nothing away from the outside. Two products on the same shelf, identical in appearance, and one is made from an animal.
The good news is that this is one of the few questions on this site with a clean answer available on the packet.
The two shells
Gelatin. Collagen from pig or cow. Not vegetarian, and the label will not usually say which animal, which matters for anyone whose reason is religious rather than dietary.
Hypromellose. A cellulose-based shell material. This does not settle the origin of the ingredients inside the shell. Often labelled “vegetarian capsule”, “veggie cap” or “HPMC”.
Pullulan is a third option, produced by fermentation and also plant-suitable. It is less common.
Where to look
Not in the Supplement Facts panel. That carries the vitamins and botanicals, the things the product is sold for.
The capsule shell lives in the ingredient list underneath, along with the fillers and flow agents. US rules say ingredients declared in the Supplement Facts panel need not be repeated in the ingredient list, and the split runs the other way too: the shell is not what you are buying, so it sits in the second list.
People checking for animal ingredients often read only one of the two panels. Read both, and for this particular question the lower one is where the answer is.
Check the rest of the supplement
A vegetarian capsule claim describes the shell; it does not replace reading the dietary ingredients and their sources. Read both panels, and ask the manufacturer about a source the label does not disclose. A missing capsule claim is not evidence that the shell is gelatin.
The FDA ingredient-labeling guide explains why ingredients already declared in Supplement Facts do not have to be repeated in the separate ingredient list.
The one that catches people
Softgels. The soft, squeezable capsules used for fish oil and vitamin D are usually gelatin, and they read as a different category from hard capsules, so they get waved through by people who have already learned to check hard shells.
Plant-based softgels exist and are usually made from starch or carrageenan, and as with everything else here, the products that use them say so.
Sources
- Dietary Supplement Labeling Guide: Ingredient Labeling US Food and Drug Administration · fda.gov
- 21 CFR 101.4: Food; designation of ingredients US Food and Drug Administration, via eCFR · ecfr.gov Ingredients declared in the Supplement Facts panel need not be repeated in the ingredient list, which is why the capsule shell appears in only one of the two.