Bespoke powder and drink mix manufacturing

What we make as a powder supplement manufacturer: types, bases and dose ranges

We develop and manufacture custom powders and drink mixes for premium wellness brands, in-house in Leicester, from formulation to the filled and labelled tub, pouch or stick. As a powder supplement manufacturer, we make protein, creatine, pre-workout, hydration, greens, fibre and collagen powders, plus clear protein, instant and effervescent drink mixes and direct-to-mouth powders. Servings run from a 3 g creatine scoop to tens of grams of protein. Every batch is blended for a validated time, checked for uniformity, tested by accredited partner laboratories and shipped with its certificate of analysis. Your formula is yours.

Powders and drink mixes sit alongside the other supplement formats we manufacture. Powders are the fastest-growing supplement format in the US: they took 18.7% of US supplement sales in 2025 and grew 11%, ahead of every other format, according to Nutrition Business Journal data reported by Nutraceuticals World in March 2026. We take on large, multi-market powder programmes with confidence and grow them with your brand across the UK, Europe and the US.

Types

• Protein powders: whey, milk and plant proteins, blends, and clear protein drink mixes.
• Creatine and sports powders: creatine monohydrate, pre-workout and recovery drink mixes, and amino acid blends.
• Hydration and electrolyte mixes: with or without sugars, for sport, travel and everyday use.
• Greens, fibre and gut health powders: plant powders, prebiotic fibres and spore-forming probiotics.
• Collagen and beauty powders: collagen peptides with vitamin C and other actives.
• Direct-to-mouth powders: fine granules taken without water, usually from a stick.
• Instant drink mixes: agglomerated powders that disperse in seconds, plus effervescent mixes.

Packs

Tubs with a scoop sized to the serving, resealable pouches, and single-serve sachets and stick packs filled from the same formula, so one development project can launch in more than one pack.

Dose ranges

Powders carry the gram-level doses other formats cannot. The serving is set by the active, the claim and the way the customer takes it.

Formulation science for powders and drink mixes

Flow and blend uniformity

A powder is only as accurate as its blend. Particles of different size, shape and density separate when a blend is moved, vibrated or filled, so a vitamin dosed in micrograms can concentrate at the top of one tub and go missing from the bottom of another. We match particle sizes across the formula, premix micro-ingredients before they meet the bulk, blend for a validated time and check uniformity. Flow is measured with pharmacopoeial methods, such as bulk and tapped density, compressibility index and Hausner ratio (USP chapter 1174 and Ph. Eur. 2.9.36), because poor flow means inconsistent fills.

Moisture, caking and hygroscopicity

Many of the actives brands want most attract water: electrolyte salts, hydrolysed collagen, fruit and vegetable powders, maltodextrin and citric acid. Above its critical relative humidity, a powder takes up moisture, forms liquid bridges between particles and cakes. Amorphous ingredients turn sticky once absorbed water drops their glass transition temperature below the storage temperature. We control humidity during production, use flow aids such as silicon dioxide where the label allows, and pair each formula with packaging that keeps water out for the whole shelf life.

Mixability: wetting, dispersion and dissolution

Mixing happens in three steps: the powder wets, disperses and dissolves. Fine protein powders wet on the outside and trap dry powder inside, forming lumps. Agglomerated, or instantised, proteins, often coated with lecithin, wet quickly and break up in a shaker. We test mixability the way customers mix: in water and milk, by shaker and spoon, cold and at room temperature, and we score lumps, residue, foam and settling.

Clear and instant powders

Clear protein drinks use whey protein isolate in an acidic, juice-style drink, where the protein stays in solution and the drink stays transparent. The challenges are foam, astringency and flavour at low pH, and each has a formulation answer in the protein grade, the acid system and the sweeteners. Instant drink mixes rely on agglomerated bases and fully soluble sweeteners, colours and acids, so the drink looks finished within seconds of stirring.

Direct-to-mouth powders

Direct-to-mouth powders are taken straight from the stick, without water. They need particles large enough not to dust the throat and small enough to dissolve on the tongue, a sweetener and flavour system that works in saliva alone, and strong taste masking. Our flavour and taste masking work handles the salty, bitter, metallic and earthy notes that high-dose powders bring.

Ingredients that work in this format

• Proteins: whey concentrate and isolate, milk proteins and casein, and pea, rice and soy proteins in blends that balance amino acid profile, taste and cost of goods.
• Creatine monohydrate: stable as a dry powder; it degrades to creatinine in solution, so labels advise drinking it soon after mixing.
• Electrolytes and minerals: sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium salts, chosen for solubility, taste and elemental content.
• Fibres and gut actives: inulin, acacia, psyllium and partially hydrolysed guar gum, with spore-forming probiotics that tolerate processing.
• Greens and botanicals: standardised extracts and whole-plant powders, tested for identity and contaminants.
• Vitamins: premixed for uniformity and protected from the minerals and moisture that speed their loss.

Some combinations need care. Reducing sugars and proteins brown together in warm storage through the Maillard reaction, and probiotics need a low water activity blend to survive. When another serving suits the product better, we make that too, all in Leicester: gummies, liquid supplements, functional drinks, functional coffee and tea, protein bars, effervescent tablets and softgels. We check every ingredient's status in each target market before we formulate, because an ingredient sold as a supplement in one market can be a novel food in another.

How powders and drink mixes are made

Development runs from bench samples, where we fix taste, mixability and dose, to a pilot batch on production equipment that proves blend uniformity, flow, fill weight and yield and starts stability in the final pack. From then on, every powder runs through the same controlled sequence, documented in the batch record.

1. Specify and approve. We agree the specification with you: actives, serving, flavour, mixability and shelf life. Every material comes from an approved supplier, and suppliers are reviewed every year.
2. Weigh and dispense. Materials are weighed against the batch record under our allergen management plan, with yellow colour coding for allergens such as milk and soy, and each supplier lot is recorded so every batch traces back to its ingredients.
3. Sieve and premix. Ingredients are sieved, and vitamins, minerals, sweeteners and flavours are premixed so they spread evenly through the bulk.
4. Blend. The batch blends for its validated time, and uniformity is checked.
5. Fill. Powder is filled by weight into tubs, pouches or sticks, with fill weights checked through the run and scoops added to tubs.
6. Seal and label. Packs are sealed, coded and labelled. Label verification on every batch is the critical control point in our HACCP plan.
7. Release. Quality control reviews the batch record and results against the specification before release, and every batch ships with its certificate of analysis and a batch release confirmation.

The HACCP study for powders is reviewed every year, and any non-conformance is closed with QA and Operations sign-off.

Testing and batch release

Every batch is tested by accredited partner laboratories (ISO/IEC 17025), and batch testing is part of every order. The laboratories issue certificates of analysis you can share with retailers and marketplaces, and quality control releases every batch against its specification. For powders, the panel includes these tests:

• Identity: for example FTIR for raw materials and HPTLC for botanicals.
• Active content: HPLC for creatine and vitamins; protein by nitrogen methods, with an amino acid profile to catch nitrogen spiking, where cheap amino acids inflate a protein result.
• Heavy metals: lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic by ICP-MS. As of October 2026, EU contaminant rules cap lead in food supplements at 3.0 mg/kg, cadmium at 1.0 mg/kg for most supplements and mercury at 0.10 mg/kg, and a large daily serving makes the margin matter.
• Microbiology: total viable count, yeasts and moulds, Enterobacteriaceae and pathogens.
• Allergens and physical checks: allergen verification where relevant, moisture, bulk density, particle size and mixability.

Powders are made in our Leicester facility, which is ISO 9001, HACCP and GMP certified by BSI, and FDA registered. Behind every batch sit a HACCP study per product type, reviewed annually; supplier approval before any material is used; label verification on every batch; three retained samples per batch, kept for shelf life plus one year; and a full mock recall, forward and backward with mass balance, in seconds. Batch-tested sport certification, such as Informed Sport, is arranged for your product. Our testing and batch release page sets out the full approach, and quality and accreditations covers each certificate and its scope.

Packaging and presentation

Powder packaging has to keep water out, survive transit and satisfy the rules on empty space. We fill by weight, never by volume, and size scoops to the bulk density of the finished blend, so the label serving and the scoop agree.

• Tubs: rigid HDPE, PET or paper-based tubs with induction seals. Recycled PET for food contact is widely available, while food-contact HDPE and PP from mechanical recycling are not yet available at scale in the EU (RegSurance, October 2026). Resin choice therefore matters for the EU's recycled-content targets for contact-sensitive packaging from 2030: 30% for PET and 10% for other plastics.
• Pouches: stand-up, resealable pouches; for your packaging plan, we specify mono-material PE or PP structures designed for recycling.
• Single-serve: sticks and sachets that carry one exact dose and suit travel, sampling and subscription.

Headspace is a legal issue as well as a commercial one, and it is where shrinkflation gets caught. Powders settle in transit. As of October 2026, US rules accept headspace for unavoidable settling but count nonfunctional slack fill as misbranding, EU sales packaging must keep empty space to what function and protection need from 12 February 2028, and UK extended producer responsibility fees already charge more for packaging rated red for recyclability. We size the pack to the fill, not the shelf.

Labels and claims for the UK, EU and US

Food supplement or food?

The first labelling decision is classification. In the UK and EU, a protein or electrolyte powder can be sold as a food supplement or as a general food, such as a sports drink powder; in the US, as a dietary supplement or a conventional food, such as a drink mix. The choice changes the label: mandatory supplement statements or a standard nutrition declaration in the UK and EU, and Supplement Facts or Nutrition Facts in the US. We settle it with you before artwork starts.

United Kingdom and European Union

As of October 2026, these rules shape powder labels in the UK and EU:

• Claims come only from the GB nutrition and health claims register or the EU register, with their conditions of use. "Protein contributes to a growth in muscle mass" needs the product to be at least a source of protein, and the creatine performance claim needs 3 g of creatine daily.
• No claim linking creatine to cognition is authorised in the UK or EU, so creatine brain positioning stays off UK and EU labels.
• The two authorised claims for carbohydrate-electrolyte solutions, on water absorption and on endurance performance during exercise, apply only to drinks that meet set carbohydrate, sodium and osmolality conditions. A zero-sugar electrolyte mix cannot use them; "magnesium contributes to electrolyte balance" and "potassium contributes to normal muscle function" are authorised alternatives.
• EU maximum levels for vitamins and minerals in food supplements are on the way, so we build electrolyte and multi-nutrient formulas with room to adjust.
• Collagen and greens powders lean on vitamin claims, such as "vitamin C contributes to normal collagen formation for the normal function of skin", because collagen has no authorised claim of its own and most botanical claims remain on hold.

United States

As of October 2026, dietary supplement powders carry a Supplement Facts panel with the serving in scoops and grams, and structure/function claims need FDA's disclaimer and a notification to FDA. Protein products sold into California also face the state's Proposition 65 warning rules, which cover lead and other heavy metals. We prepare labels and the documents behind them for each market with you, and check every claim against the register or rule that governs it.

Our research and development is a paid stage, and it can be included with an order of the right size. Send us your brief through Start your project and we will come back with the formula route, the pack and the testing plan for your powder.

References: Nutrition Business Journal via Nutraceuticals World (2026); Grand View Research, electrolyte powder market (2026); Regulation (EU) 2023/915 (2023); Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 (2012); UK Nutrition and Health Claims Committee, creatine and cognitive function (2024); Regulation (EU) 2026/1118 (2026); Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (2025); Jäger and colleagues, Amino Acids (2011).