It's one of the questions we get asked most often during label setup, and the answer surprises a lot of brand owners. If your product is a powder, you'll already have a net weight on the pack. So it feels natural to assume capsules, tablets and gummies need one too. They don't - and here's why.
What the rules actually require
Net quantity is a mandatory piece of information on prepacked food under the retained UK version of the Food Information to Consumers Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011), which sits alongside the Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003. So the starting point is that yes, every supplement has to tell the consumer how much product is in the pack.
The part most people miss is how you're allowed to express that quantity. The same regulation makes an exception for foods that are normally sold by number. For those, the count of items is the net quantity declaration, as long as the number can be seen and counted from the outside or is printed on the label.
Capsules, tablets and gummies are textbook examples of products sold by number. Printing "60 Capsules" or "60 Gummies" on the pack satisfies the requirement in full. You do not need to add a net weight in grams as well.
Powders and liquids are different
Powders aren't sold by number, so they fall back on the standard rule and have to carry a net weight, declared by weight in grams (for example, 150 g). Liquids follow the same logic but are declared by volume in millilitres. This is also where the ℮ estimated-quantity sign becomes relevant - it only applies to declarations made by weight or volume, so it has a place on a powder or liquid pack but never on a count-based one.
A point worth knowing if you're tempted to add both
Some brands like the look of a net weight on a capsule or tablet pack and ask to include it alongside the count. That's allowed, but it isn't free. The moment you print a weight, you've made a quantitative claim that has to be met under average-quantity rules, which adds a quality-control obligation at the filling stage. Since the count already does everything the law asks for, most products are cleaner and simpler with the count alone. There's no compliance benefit to carrying both, and there is a small extra burden.
The short version
For capsules, tablets and gummies, the unit count is your net quantity - no separate net weight is needed. For powders, declare net weight in grams; for liquids, declare volume in millilitres. The only firm requirement for count formats is that the number on the pack is accurate, since once you rely on it, it becomes the legal declaration. As such, we strongly recommened only using a count for products where this is relevant - i.e. capsules, tablets and powders.