Can you make liquid supplements?

Yes: drops, tinctures, shots, syrups and oral sprays, as TGA-listed medicines or foods. We settle the pathway at the brief, before the formula.

Is a vitamin drop a medicine or a food?

Usually a medicine. In a general food, vitamins and minerals can only be added to the foods Schedule 17 of the Food Standards Code lists, so vitamin D drops and B12 sprays are usually made as listed medicines. A shot can be a food, because formulated beverages and juices are on the list.

Why does a liquid need preservative testing?

A water-based liquid in a multidose bottle is opened again and again. Under TGO 100, its preservative has to pass the pharmacopoeial efficacy test, as well as the microbial limits every non-sterile medicine meets.

Do iron liquids need child-resistant packaging?

Yes, if the pack holds more than 250 mg of elemental iron in total, under TGO 95. So does any pack whose label or packaging says or implies it's child-resistant.

Do you manage manufacturing across borders?

Yes. For Deeply Rooted we managed the supply chain from the New Zealand maker through to delivery in Australia.

What's the minimum order?

A first run is at least 3,000 finished retail packs per batch, made in one run, whatever the format.

Manufacturing

Liquid supplements, from formula to delivery

In short

Doses your customers can measure, drop or spray. We make drops, tinctures, shots, syrups and oral sprays.
Popular for vitamin D drops, herbal tinctures, iron liquids and B12 sprays. Choose a liquid when you need precise or adjustable doses, or your customers prefer a liquid.
Vitamin D drops and B12 sprays are usually made as TGA-listed medicines. A shot can be a food, because formulated beverages and juices are among the foods the Food Standards Code lets vitamins and minerals be added to.
A water-based liquid in a multidose bottle has to pass a test of its preservative under TGO 100. An iron liquid with more than 250 mg of elemental iron in the pack needs child-resistant packaging under TGO 95.

What we make

Drops, measured by the drop or the millilitre.
Tinctures, for herbal formulas.
Shots, a single serve in one small bottle.
Syrups.
Oral sprays.

Liquids are popular for vitamin D drops, herbal tinctures, iron liquids and B12 sprays. Choose one when you need precise or adjustable doses, or your customers prefer a liquid. For a large serve, see powders and sachets.

Medicine or food?

A liquid is a medicine or a food the same way any format is: by what it contains and how it's presented, starting with its claims (medicine, food or cosmetic?).

Drops and sprays. In a general food, a vitamin or mineral can only be added to a food listed in Schedule 17 of the Food Standards Code (section S17-4), within its limits: cereals, dairy products, edible oils and spreads, juices, formulated beverages and a few others. Vitamin D drops and B12 sprays are usually made as listed medicines instead, with an AUST L number on the label, as a vitamin gummy is.
Shots. Formulated beverages are on the list, measured against a 600 mL serve, and so are fruit and vegetable juices. So a shot with added vitamins can be made as a food, if it meets the Code's rules for that kind of drink and stays within its limits. More on the food pathway.
Tinctures. A herbal tincture presented for a therapeutic use is a medicine, usually a listed one. Then every herb has to be in the Permissible Ingredients Determination, and every claim has to be a permitted indication backed by the sponsor's evidence (permitted indications).

Making a liquid as a medicine

A liquid listed on the ARTG is held to the same rules as any other listed medicine: permitted ingredients and indications, a site licensed by the TGA or holding TGA GMP clearance if it's overseas (choosing a supplement manufacturer), and a TGO 116 label. Two rules weigh more on liquids than on dry formats.

Preservative testing. Under TGO 100, a water-based medicine in a multidose container must pass the pharmacopoeial test of how well its preservative works, on top of the microbial limits every non-sterile medicine has to meet.
Child-resistant packaging. TGO 95 requires it for a listed medicine whose pack holds more than 250 mg of elemental iron in total. Its exception is for divided preparations, such as tablets, with 5 mg or less of iron per dosage unit alongside other actives, so for a liquid, check the total in the bottle. Some essential oils are on the list too: eucalyptus, clove and melaleuca oil need it unless the container is 15 mL or less with a restricted flow insert, or the oil is 25% or less of the product.

The first run is at least 3,000 finished retail packs, as for any format (what a supplement costs to develop).

The label

The label follows TGO 116, like any listed medicine's. Three lines matter more for liquids than for most formats.

Alcohol. It's one of the substances TGO 116 says to declare, with its percentage, for the routes and thresholds its Schedule 1 sets. That's a line on an alcohol-based tincture.
Sugars and sugar alcohols. Sugars are a declared substance too, which matters for a syrup. If sugar alcohols total more than 2 g in the maximum daily dose, the label must state the quantity and carry the laxative-effect statement, unless the sugar alcohol is glycerol.
Small bottles. A container of 25 mL or less inside a carton carries a short label of its own, in text at least 1.5 mm high: the medicine's name, each active and its quantity, the dosage form, the quantity, the batch number, the expiry date and the sponsor. A dropper bottle in a carton is often one.

When a liquid isn't the answer

Liquids have their own limits. A prenatal for Arxi started as a liquid drop. Trials showed it wasn't stable and its taste couldn't be masked: vitamin C fizzes in liquid, and B vitamins and selenium are bitter and smell strongly. After testing a liposomal liquid, it moved to a two-a-day chewable. Finding that out in trials, not in production, is the point of the format stage. The stability program then supports the expiry on the label: what the TGA expects is in our stability testing guide.

From our records

Deeply Rooted: an organic essential oil blend for children, made in New Zealand and sold in Australia. We handled product development and the whole cross-border supply chain, from the New Zealand maker to delivery in Australia, in 2025.
Arxi: a prenatal that started as a liquid drop and moved to a chewable after trials.

Questions

: Yes: drops, tinctures, shots, syrups and oral sprays, as TGA-listed medicines or foods. We settle the pathway at the brief, before the formula.
: Usually a medicine. In a general food, vitamins and minerals can only be added to the foods Schedule 17 of the Food Standards Code lists, so vitamin D drops and B12 sprays are usually made as listed medicines. A shot can be a food, because formulated beverages and juices are on the list.
: A water-based liquid in a multidose bottle is opened again and again. Under TGO 100, its preservative has to pass the pharmacopoeial efficacy test, as well as the microbial limits every non-sterile medicine meets.
: Yes, if the pack holds more than 250 mg of elemental iron in total, under TGO 95. So does any pack whose label or packaging says or implies it's child-resistant.
: Yes. For Deeply Rooted we managed the supply chain from the New Zealand maker through to delivery in Australia.
: A first run is at least 3,000 finished retail packs per batch, made in one run, whatever the format.