Country-Specific Regulatory Notice
How Cutting Drops is classified and regulated in every country we ship to.
Cutting Drops is a liposomal botanical blend (ginger, fennel, peppermint, dandelion, burdock root and elderberry extracts, in a purified water, vegetable glycerin and natural flavour base) sold as a general-wellness dietary/food supplement, not as a medicine. Because the legal category a product like this falls into — and the wording it's allowed to carry — differs by country, this page sets out, market by market, which regulator applies, how our current claims are positioned within that framework, and where we've flagged a claim, ingredient or market for further regulatory or legal review before we treat it as settled. It's written to be read alongside our Ingredient Transparency and Health & Medical Disclaimer pages.
Australia
Whether an ingestible product like Cutting Drops is regulated as a food (under the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, administered by Food Standards Australia New Zealand) or as a therapeutic good (under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989, administered by the TGA) depends on the combination of its ingredients, its physical form, and — most importantly — the claims made about it. A liquid drop product and a tablet containing the very same extract can sit on different sides of that line, and the same product can cross the line simply by changing its marketing wording.
The food/medicine test that applies to Cutting Drops
Current position: sold as a food-type wellness product, not a Listed Medicine
Cutting Drops is currently sold and marketed with traditional-use, general-wellness wording (for example, "traditionally used to support smooth digestion") rather than with therapeutic claims that a product will diagnose, treat, cure or prevent a disease or condition. On that basis, it is positioned in the food category and is not required to hold an AUST L (Listed Medicine) number on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG).
Where the line gets genuinely close
Several of the ingredient descriptions on our own site — "support the body's natural detox pathways", "support liver function", "support natural detox pathways" alongside dandelion and burdock root — sit closer to the therapeutic side of the TGA's Food-Medicine Interface guidance than a plain digestive-comfort claim does. "Detox" and "liver function" language is a recognised trigger point the TGA has taken enforcement action over in other products, even where the seller considered the claim to be general wellness language. We have not independently confirmed with a TGA regulatory consultant that this specific wording, on this specific liquid formulation, stays on the food side of the line — that confirmation is still outstanding.
Action flagged for regulatory review
Before continuing to advertise Cutting Drops with digestion, detox or liver-support wording in Australia, we recommend a TGA regulatory consultant confirm in writing whether the current claims keep the product in the food category under the Therapeutic Goods (Excluded Goods) Determination, or whether the claims need to be reworded to plain digestive-comfort language to stay clear of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 — selling with unpermitted therapeutic claims and no AUST L listing is a contravention of that Act. This review is not yet complete.
Food Standards Code obligations we do meet
United States
In the United States, Cutting Drops is regulated as a dietary supplement under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) administers, alongside the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) rules on truthful, substantiated advertising.
What DSHEA requires — and where we stand
United Kingdom
Food supplements sold in the UK sit under the Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003 (and the equivalent Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish regulations), the retained Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation, and — where a product's claims start to look medicinal — the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's (MHRA) borderline products framework.
The claims problem for botanicals specifically
Only claims on the GB Nutrition and Health Claims Register may be used
Under the retained EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation, a food or supplement can only carry a health claim that's been formally authorised and added to the GB Register. There is currently no authorised claim on that Register for ginger, fennel, peppermint, dandelion, burdock root or elderberry — the assessment of botanical health claims has been "on hold" (neither authorised nor rejected) for over a decade, across the whole UK/EU botanicals category.
Why we use "traditionally used to" wording, not authorised health claims
Because generic wording like "supports digestion" or "supports detox" can read as an unauthorised health claim if phrased as a direct benefit statement, we frame our UK-facing ingredient copy as historical/traditional use ("traditionally used to settle the stomach") rather than as an authorised nutrition or health claim. A UK court ruling in 2025 reaffirmed that sellers can still sell botanical supplements during the "on hold" period, but can't advertise them using health-claim wording that hasn't been scientifically assessed and approved — so this distinction matters and we haven't yet had every product page checked line-by-line against it.
MHRA borderline risk
The MHRA's October 2025 updated borderline products guidance confirms that a food supplement can be reclassified as a medicine — requiring a marketing authorisation before it can be sold at all — based on its claims, its ingredients' properties, and how it's presented, not just its ingredient list. If a claim implies Cutting Drops works through a pharmacological, immunological or metabolic effect (rather than simply supplementing the diet), it risks being treated as an unlicensed medicine in the UK. We recommend a UK regulatory or MHRA borderline-status opinion before any UK-specific marketing copy is finalised.
Canada
Canada regulates products like Cutting Drops as Natural Health Products (NHPs) under the Natural Health Products Regulations, made under the Food and Drugs Act, and administered by Health Canada's Natural and Non-Prescription Health Products Directorate. This is the most restrictive of the five markets on this page for a botanical liquid blend like ours.
Why an NPN matters, and what happens without one
Current status: Cutting Drops does not hold a Natural Product Number
All six botanicals in our blend — ginger, fennel, peppermint, dandelion, burdock root and elderberry — fall under Schedule 1 of the Natural Health Products Regulations as NHP ingredients. Any product making a health-related claim and containing these ingredients generally needs a Natural Product Number (NPN), issued once Health Canada has reviewed a Product Licence Application, before it can be legally sold or commercially imported into Canada. Cutting Drops has not yet been through that licensing process and does not currently carry an NPN.
The practical risk
Without an NPN, shipments into Canada risk being held or seized at the border, and continuing to sell into the Canadian market without a licence carries genuine legal exposure under the Food and Drugs Act, separate from any advertising-platform or marketplace-level restrictions. Several of our ingredients (ginger, fennel, peppermint, dandelion, elderberry) already have existing Health Canada compendial monographs, which can shorten the licensing pathway compared to starting from a blank application — but a licence still has to be obtained before sale.
Urgent action flagged
We recommend an urgent legal and regulatory review of Canadian sales and shipping before continuing to advertise or ship Cutting Drops to Canadian customers, covering: whether a Natural Product Number application should be filed against existing monographs for our botanicals, and whether Canadian orders should be paused in the meantime. This has not yet been actioned.
New Zealand
New Zealand regulates dietary supplements under the Dietary Supplements Regulations 1985. That regime was previously set to be replaced by the Therapeutic Products Act, but the New Zealand Government repealed that Act in December 2024 before it took effect, and reissued the 1985 Regulations under the Food Act 2014 to keep them in force. A standalone natural health products law is still being developed, with no confirmed commencement date as at the date of this notice — so the 1985 Regulations are the current law, not a stopgap that has already lapsed.
What this means for Cutting Drops
One product, five different rulebooks — so the wording changes by market.
A single global product description can't simultaneously satisfy the TGA's food/medicine line, DSHEA's structure/function rules, the UK's on-hold botanical claims, Health Canada's NHP licensing regime, and Medsafe's ban on therapeutic claims. Rather than write one claim and hope it holds up everywhere, our approach — where it has been implemented — is:
Where each market currently stands.
This table reflects our own internal review as at 6 September 2026. It is not a substitute for advice from a qualified regulatory consultant or lawyer in each market, and several rows below are marked "under review" for exactly that reason.
Questions about how this applies to your order or your country?
If you need more detail on how a specific claim, ingredient or regulation applies in your country, or you're a regulator, retailer or advertising platform reviewing our compliance, contact our small team and we'll respond within 1 business day.
URBAN CLOTHING PTY LTD (ABN 78 671 782 111), trading as The Minerals Lab · 66 Windemere Road, Alexandra Hills, Queensland 4161, Australia · Page last updated / effective: 6 September 2026