Safety and quality
Labels, quality checks, warning letters and the red flags worth knowing.
When a headline says "safety risk," whose words are those? In this hub, safety means what regulators and reviewers have put in writing, and it explains the label terms that trip people up.
FDA's Category 2 page lists bulk substances for which FDA says it identified significant safety risks if they are compounded. That is an enforcement posture, not a ruling on every use. [V] Supplements raise their own question for athletes: the NCAA warns that supplements may be contaminated with banned substances not listed on the label, and USADA says a label does not change an athlete's responsibility. [V] When a post here mentions a warning letter, a recall or a list, it names the agency document and its date so you can read it yourself.
Evidence labels: [V] verified in a primary document, [S] secondary source. Reviewed October 25, 2026.
Posts in this topic
- Telehealth
- Legal
- FDA
Hims & Hers, the FTC and the FDA: who has actually said what about telehealth and compounded drugs
What the FTC and FDA have each said about telehealth companies and compounded drugs, from public documents, and what each does not cover.
- Fitness and recovery
- Safety and quality
- Wellness
Which popular gym peptides are banned in sport? What WADA's 2026 and 2027 lists name
Which peptides do WADA's 2026 and 2027 Prohibited Lists name, what strict liability means for supplements, and what WADA says about GLP-1 drugs.
- Safety and quality
- Compounding
- Wellness
The glutathione injection recall: what FDA's October 1 notice says, and what it doesn't
FDA's Oct 1, 2026 notice on a compounded glutathione injection recall for possible endotoxin: what it says, what CDC and FDA add, what's unconfirmed.
- Compounding
- FDA
- Safety and quality
What FDA's "Category 1" and "Category 2" actually mean (and what they don't)
What FDA's Category 1 and Category 2 labels for compounded bulk substances mean, and what they do not mean, using FDA's own documents.
- Wellness
- FDA
- Compounding
"It's a peptide": three very different things hiding behind one word
Approved peptide medicines, compounded drugs and wellness-market peptides side by side: what FDA reviewed, what a label tells you, and what it does not.
Key terms in plain English
- Category 2
- FDA's interim-policy bucket for nominated substances where it identified significant safety risks in compounding. Not a ban list and not a safety rating for every use. [V]
- Warning letter
- A written notice from FDA to a company about violations FDA says it found. It is not a court ruling.
- Contamination
- The NCAA's term for banned substances that may be present in a supplement without being named on its label. [V]
Primary sources behind this page
- FDA, Certain bulk drug substances for use in compounding that may present significant safety risks (page current as of Apr. 22, 2026)
- FDA, Warning Letters (database)
- NCAA, Banned Substances (supplement warning) (retrieved Oct. 25, 2026)
- USADA, 2026 Clean Sport Handbook (PDF) (2026)
Other topics
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