How to Report a Bad Reaction to a Supplement (US, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ)
No affiliate links. This guide only points to official government reporting services. It is not medical advice.
If the reaction is serious, get medical help first. Call your local emergency number (911 in the US and Canada, 999 in the UK, 000 in Australia, 111 in New Zealand). Reporting comes after you are safe.
Supplements, vitamins and herbal products can cause side effects and can interact with medicines. Regulators rely on reports from ordinary people to spot problems they would otherwise never see. You don’t need to be sure the product caused it: Health Canada asks people to report even when they are not sure which product was the cause.
Where to report, by country
| Country | Who runs it | How to report |
|---|---|---|
| United States | FDA | The Safety Reporting Portal. You can report as a guest: choose “Start a new report”, then “A private citizen, business or veterinary provider submitting a voluntary report”. |
| United Kingdom | MHRA | The Yellow Card scheme. The MHRA says patients as well as health professionals can report suspected side effects to herbal medicines through it. |
| Canada | Health Canada | The online “Report a side effect” form under MedEffect Canada (natural health products), or by mail using the postage-paid label. Health Canada says everyone who experiences a side effect to a natural health product “is strongly encouraged to report it”. |
| Australia | TGA | Online through the TGA’s Adverse Event Management System, or by calling 1300 MEDICINE (1300 633 424). The TGA counts complementary medicines, such as herbal medicines and nutritional supplements like vitamins and minerals, as medicines it monitors. |
| New Zealand | Medsafe / CARM | The online CARM report form (preferred), by email to CARMreport@health.govt.nz, or by post to Medsafe. CARM collects reports on herbal products and dietary supplements as well as medicines. |
What to include
- The exact product: brand, product name, batch or lot number, and where you bought it. A photo of the label and ingredient list helps.
- How you took it: dose, how often, and when you started and stopped.
- What happened: the symptoms, when they started, and how long they lasted.
- Everything else you take: medicines and other supplements, because many problems are interactions.
- Any medical care you needed, and the outcome.
The FDA’s advice applies everywhere: complete reports are most useful, but even partial information can help.
After you report
- Stop taking the product while you check with a doctor or pharmacist.
- Keep the container and receipt.
- If you paid for a “free trial” or subscription, see our guide to cancelling and getting a refund.
- Check whether the product has already been recalled: see supplement recalls by country.
How we checked
We read each regulator’s own reporting pages on October 2, 2026. If something here has changed, tell us at jakemitchell@toptierfind.com.
Sources
- FDA, How to Report a Problem with Dietary Supplements (content current as of March 13, 2025)
- MHRA, Herbal medicines: report suspected adverse reactions to the Yellow Card scheme
- Health Canada, Reporting side effects of natural health products: consumers
- TGA, Reporting adverse events for consumers (updated September 2, 2026) and Overview of adverse event reporting for medicines
- healthdirect Australia, Reporting a problem with a medicine
- Medsafe, Report a problem (revised February 9, 2026)
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