One product, one panel, one record.
Member's Mark (Sam's Club) 10 Strain Probiotic, Digestive Care Supplement, 84 Count — label audit
Two of the ten organisms carry real strain designators with substantial human trial literatures behind them, and they are the two the marketing leads with. All ten sit inside one 124 mg proprietary blend with no per-organism allocation, so the delivered dose of both is unknowable — including for the B. infantis that the "compare vs. align" claim on the label is actually about.
This page is an audit of a label. It records what this product’s panel discloses, what of that could be checked against a primary record, and what could not. The score below ranks this product on that disclosure and on nothing else.
The record this page rests on
- NIH label record
- Label read on
- The most recent dated artefact behind this page. Labels change; this is how old our reading of it is.
- Cohort
- Addendum — outside the founding denominators Torn down 2026-07-31, after the founding cohort of 27 was frozen. It sits outside every D27 denominator the site publishes.
- How deep this went
- Full forensic teardown Panel transcribed, every strain designator queried, every certification chased to its issuer’s own register, and the literature behind each marketing claim opened and read.
- What did not survive verification
- Part of this page was refuted or could not be reproduced No price on this page survived verification, so none is published. samsclub.com returns HTTP 307 to a CAPTCHA interstitial, the interstitial was not bypassed, and the Internet Archive holds no usable copy of the listing, so the $17.24 carried from the research brief could not be re-checked — and with it goes the cost per day and the cost-per-billion-CFU figure that would otherwise make this the cheapest live organisms in the project. The whole retail side of this record is unread: no bullets, no images, no merchandising data, no on-page comparison badges. Everything else here — the strain list, the 10 billion, the through-expiry guarantee, the seals and the claim language — is independently verified through two generations of the NIH label record, which were transcribed from two physical cartons a year apart and agree.
The Label Verifiability Score for this product
35.8 out of 100
Rank 111 of the 154 products in this audit the rubric can score.
The score measures one thing: how much of what you are buying this company tells you, and how much of that survives being checked against a source that is not the company. It does not measure whether the product works — this site holds no efficacy data of its own, and 0 of 294 organism slots in the founding cohort carry a strain with a human randomised trial for any male-specific outcome, so nobody in this category has evidence that would support a ranking by effect.
Computed over 86% of the rubric by weight — the share of the five questions below this record could answer. The remaining question is unanswered, and unanswered is not nought: it leaves the divisor rather than dragging the score down. That share travels with the number and is never dropped — this score over 86% of the weight and the same score over all of it are different claims.
| Component | Weight | What was counted, and where | Fraction | Weight × fraction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strain identity printed on the panel | 0.24 | 2 of 10 organism slots carry a printed strain designator. | 2 / 10 = 0.2000 | 0.0480 |
| Per-organism amount printed | 0.20 | 0 of 10 organism slots have an amount of its own; the rest are inside a blend total. | 0 / 10 = 0.0000 | 0.0000 |
| What the CFU count is measured against | 0.22 | Potency basis "through-expiry": CFU figure printed yes, single basis stated yes, basis reaches expiry yes — 3 of 3. | 3 / 3 = 1.0000 | 0.2200 |
| Printed designators that lead to a human trial | 0.20 | 2 of 10 checked organism slots resolve to at least one human randomised trial under the designator exactly as printed. This counts whether the identity leads to a trial, never what the trial found. | 2 / 10 = 0.2000 | 0.0400 |
| Certification confirmed at the issuer’s own register | 0.14 | Every certification on this record is brand-asserted with the register unreachable, or not yet queried. An unreachable register is a fact about the verification infrastructure, not about this brand, so it may not move its position. | Not answered | — excluded from the divisor, not counted as nought |
0.3080 — the last column added up — divided by 0.86, the weight this record could answer, is 0.3581. Multiplied by 100 and rounded to one decimal, that is the 35.8 above.
See this product’s row in the full ranking, alongside the other 153 scored products, or read what each of the five components asks and how to check it .
What this label discloses
Everything in this table is what the product itself states — on the printed panel, on the brand’s own page, or in the label record the manufacturer filed. Nothing in it is checked yet; checking is the next section.
| Disclosure | As recorded |
|---|---|
| CFU as printed | 10 Billion Live Cells (Proprietary Probiotic Blend, 124 mg) |
| What that count is measured against | Through expiry |
| Strain designators | Some organisms coded |
| Organism slots transcribed here | 10 — the full panel |
| Marketed as | Unisex |
Verbatim, and present in both government label generations: "This product contains 10 billion live cells when manufactured and until at least the 'Best Used By' date, providing proper handling and storage directions are followed." Storage, verbatim: "Best if stored at 72 degrees F (22 degrees C) or below. Refrigeration not required, but may extend product shelf life. For best results, we recommend you store this product in the original blister card package." Blister-packed and delayed-release, both consistent with a real stability strategy. Also on the label, and worth crediting because most of this category omits it: "Do not take within two hours of taking antibiotics."
The panel’s own words on potency, verbatim.
The panel guarantees the count through the expiration or best-by date. This is the only basis that is falsifiable by a reader holding the bottle.
Some organisms carry a printed strain designator and some are named by species only.
| Organism as printed | Designator as printed | Quantity as printed | What the designator resolves to | The query we ran |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lactobacillus acidophillus (correct name: Lactobacillus acidophilus) | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Bifidobacterium infantis | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Bifidobacterium lactis (correct name: Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis) | HN019 | — not stated separately | Human RCT | "HN019"[tiab] → 111; "HN019"[All Fields] AND randomized controlled trial[pt] → 36; "Bifidobacterium lactis HN019" → 50; "Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis HN019" → 13; "HN019" AND (constipation OR "transit time") → 14; "HN019" AND immune AND randomized controlled trial[pt] → 6; "HN-019" → 0; "DR10" AND HN019 → 5 |
| Lactobacillus rhamnosus (correct name: Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus) | GG | — not stated separately | Human RCT | "Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG"[tiab] AND randomized controlled trial[pt] → 170; "Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG"[tiab] → 276 |
| Bifidobacterium longum | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus salivarius | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Bifidobacterium bifidum | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus plantarum | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Lactobacillus paracasei | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
| Bifidobacterium breve | — none printed | — not stated separately | No designator printed | — |
What of that is verifiable
A disclosure is verifiable when a reader can open a record that neither we nor the brand controls and see the same thing. Below is every dated artefact this page rests on. What is absent from this list is not verified, however reasonable it sounds.
- NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database record — DSLD 287361 (opens in a new tab) captured The authoritative source for everything on this page. NIH's transcription of the physical carton, currently on-market: 84 delayed-release capsules, 1 capsule daily, 84 servings; Proprietary Probiotic Blend 124 mg annotated "10 Billion Live Cells", with ten nested organisms; the through-expiry statement; "HN019 is a trademark of Fonterra Limited"; the "Compare vs. align" statements and trademark disclaimer; Seals/Symbols "USP Verified Dietary Supplement" and "Made in the USA / Factory certified / USA"; other ingredients cellulose, silicon dioxide, magnesium stearate, gellan gum; contains no dairy, soy or gluten; target groups Adult (18–50), Gluten Free, Dairy Free; distributed by Sam's West, Inc., Bentonville AR 72716, made in the USA; claim classification Structure/Function (LanguaL P0265) plus All Other (P0115).
- NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database record — DSLD 277372 (opens in a new tab) captured The superseded label generation, used as an independent cross-check rather than as the current panel. Transcribed from a different physical label a year earlier, it agrees with 287361 on the strain list, the 10 billion count and the through-expiry wording — so where a value appears in both, confidence is high. It is also the source of the marketing line "Formulated with 10 strains of healthy bacteria including B. infantis and L. rhamnosus GG", which names the two organisms whose dose the blend does not disclose, and it carries the same "acidophillus" misspelling.
How many of its strains have a human trial for what it is sold for
Across the frozen founding cohort, 0 of 294 organism slots (0.0%) carry an organism with a human randomised controlled trial for any male-specific outcome. Not for this product — for all 27 of the founding teardowns, taken together. That is the number to hold against any men’s probiotic, including this one.
Two further founding-cohort figures for context: only 43 of 294 organism slots carry a strain with any human RCT at all under the exact code printed on the label, and only 2 of 27 products have a published human trial of the finished formula — the thing actually in the bottle. All three figures divide by the frozen cohort of 27 teardowns and 294 organism slots, never by every teardown on this site.
For this product specifically, 2 organism slots carry a strain with a human RCT under the exact designator printed on the label.
A word on what a designator has to clear before it counts here. The organism must be named with the exact strain code that appears in the trial, the trial must be in humans, and the code must return that trial when a reader searches it. A species name does not qualify: the trials in this field are of strains, and a species contains thousands of them.
What it costs per day
What certification it holds, checked at the issuer’s own register
A badge on a bottle is a claim like any other. Every row below was checked — or not checked — at the certifier’s own public register, never at the badge. Across the frozen founding cohort, 2 of 27 products hold a certification we could confirm at the issuer — a founding-cohort figure, not a count over every teardown on this site.
| Programme | Status at the issuer | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| USP Verified Dietary Supplement | Brand-asserted, unverified | 31 July 2026 |
| Made in the USA / Factory certified | Brand-asserted, unverified | 31 July 2026 |
USP Verified Dietary Supplement
The badge is displayed, but the register could not be reached to confirm it. We call this unverified, not false.
The label carries the seal and the accompanying statement, verbatim: "USP has tested and verified ingredients, potency, and manufacturing process. USP sets official standards for dietary supplements. See www.uspverified.org." Every attempt to confirm it at the issuer's own register failed: quality-supplements.org/verified-products HTTP 403, quality-supplements.org HTTP 403, usp.org/verification-services/verified-products-listings HTTP 403, usp.org/verified-products/dietary-supplements HTTP 403, usp.org/verification-services/dietary-supplements-verification-program HTTP 403, static.usp.org/verified-products.json HTTP 404, WebFetch on the two listing pages HTTP 404, and the Wayback copy of the register HTTP 302 with an empty body. Recorded as brand-asserted and unverified — not as verified, and not as "does not hold it". Two nuances must travel with that. First, the claim itself is confirmed to be on the physical carton: it was transcribed by NIH's label database from the package in two independent label generations, 2022 and 2023, so this is not an unsourced web claim — what is unverified is the certification's current standing at USP, not whether the brand makes it. Second, USP Verified is a materially stronger thing than most certifications in this category; by the label's own description it covers ingredients, potency and manufacturing process, i.e. whether the CFU count and strain identity are what the label says, where a gluten-free certification speaks only to gluten. If this mark is current it is the single most relevant certification any product in this project carries. That conditional stays in the sentence.
Made in the USA / Factory certified
The badge is displayed, but the register could not be reached to confirm it. We call this unverified, not false.
A second Seals/Symbols entry on the same label, reading "Made in the USA / Factory certified / USA". No issuing body is named, "Factory certified" is not a recognised third-party programme, and there is no register to check because nobody is identified to check with. Certification-shaped language with no certifier behind it.
How it differs from the same brand’s women’s version
Across the fourteen same-brand men’s-versus-women’s label diffs run inside the frozen founding cohort, zero men’s or default formulas contain a probiotic strain, identified by designator, that was selected on male-specific evidence. In eight of the fourteen the sex-specific differentiator is a botanical or a mineral, and in five of the fourteen the women’s SKU is better-specified, cheaper, or both — “better-specified” meaning the panel that discloses more, never the panel with more in it. The rule behind each of those counts, and all fourteen pairs classified against it , are published in full. Diffs run on teardowns added since sit outside this fourteen, and outside the sentence above.
Every finding on this page, with the record behind it
Finding 1 a-genuine-proprietary-blend-with-zero-per-strain-disclosure
124 mg and 10 billion live cells across ten organisms, stated in total only. The two organisms worth paying for — HN019 and LGG — are undisclosed fractions of that total, and they are precisely the two the marketing leads with. Two of ten are identified precisely enough to check and they check out; zero of ten have a verifiable delivered dose; eight of ten are species-only and therefore structurally unanswerable. That is a better disclosure record than most of this project's corpus and still not enough to verify that the product does what a trial showed.
The record: DSLD 287361 (entry 2023-01-23) and DSLD 277372 (entry 2022-09-22), transcribed from two physical labels a year apart and agreeing on the strain list, the 10 billion count and the through-expiry wording — open it (opens in a new tab)
Finding 2 the-align-comparison-rests-on-a-strain-this-label-does-not-disclose
Two label statements, verbatim: "Compare vs. align Probiotic 24/7 digestive support" and "Compare the difference of Member's Mark 10 Strain Probiotic vs. align Probiotic 24/7 Digestive Support", with the required trademark disclaimer. Align's active organism is Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis 35624 — one specific, heavily marketed strain. Member's Mark lists "Bifidobacterium infantis" species-only, with no designator and no per-strain count. The invited head-to-head runs between a product built on one precisely identified strain and a blend whose corresponding organism is identified only to species and dosed at an undisclosed fraction of 10 billion. It is framed as like-for-like; on the axis that determines effect, it is not.
The record: DSLD 287361 label statements, verbatim, 2026-07-31
Finding 3 usp-verified-claimed-and-unverifiable-at-the-issuer
Six usp.org and quality-supplements.org paths returned HTTP 403, a JSON endpoint returned 404, WebFetch on the two listing pages returned 404, and the Wayback copy of the register returned an empty 302. The strongest certification claim in this project's corpus, on the one product that makes it, could not be confirmed at the body that issues it. Recorded as brand-asserted, unverified.
The record: Six issuer URLs tried 2026-07-31, all 403/404; Wayback copy 302-empty; the claim itself confirmed on the carton via DSLD 287361 and DSLD 277372 — open it (opens in a new tab)
Finding 4 a-misspelling-persists-across-two-label-generations
"Lactobacillus acidophillus" appears on both the 2022 and the 2023 label. Small on its own, and a real signal about label quality control on a product whose headline asset is a testing certification.
The record: DSLD 277372 (2022-09-22) and DSLD 287361 (2023-01-23), nested organism rows, both read 2026-07-31 — open it (opens in a new tab)
Finding 5 pre-2020-nomenclature-throughout
The panel uses Lactobacillus naming that predates or ignores the genus split of Zheng et al. 2020, which divided Lactobacillus into 25 genera. Legal on US labels and not a safety matter; it indicates a panel that has not been revisited, which the surviving misspelling points at from the other direction.
The record: DSLD 287361 organism rows against Zheng J et al., Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2020, PMID 32293557, DOI 10.1099/ijsem.0.004107
Finding 6 the-retail-listing-cannot-be-read-at-all
samsclub.com returns HTTP 307 to a CAPTCHA interstitial, so nothing about how this product is sold — its price, its bullets, its images, its comparison badges — could be examined. Everything on this page comes from the government label record. The gate was not bypassed.
The record: samsclub.com/ip/members-mark-10-strain-probiotic-digestive-care-supplement-84ct/7874223398 fetched 2026-07-31, HTTP 307 to CAPTCHA; web.archive.org CDX returned an empty set for the URL
What we could not verify
Every gap below is published rather than deleted. Most are derived automatically from the empty fields in this page’s own record, so a gap cannot be hidden by leaving a box blank.
- USP Verified Dietary Supplement status
- The label carries the seal and the accompanying statement, verbatim: "USP has tested and verified ingredients, potency, and manufacturing process. USP sets official standards for dietary supplements. See www.uspverified.org." Every attempt to confirm it at the issuer's own register failed: quality-supplements.org/verified-products HTTP 403, quality-supplements.org HTTP 403, usp.org/verification-services/verified-products-listings HTTP 403, usp.org/verified-products/dietary-supplements HTTP 403, usp.org/verification-services/dietary-supplements-verification-program HTTP 403, static.usp.org/verified-products.json HTTP 404, WebFetch on the two listing pages HTTP 404, and the Wayback copy of the register HTTP 302 with an empty body. Recorded as brand-asserted and unverified — not as verified, and not as "does not hold it". Two nuances must travel with that. First, the claim itself is confirmed to be on the physical carton: it was transcribed by NIH's label database from the package in two independent label generations, 2022 and 2023, so this is not an unsourced web claim — what is unverified is the certification's current standing at USP, not whether the brand makes it. Second, USP Verified is a materially stronger thing than most certifications in this category; by the label's own description it covers ingredients, potency and manufacturing process, i.e. whether the CFU count and strain identity are what the label says, where a gluten-free certification speaks only to gluten. If this mark is current it is the single most relevant certification any product in this project carries. That conditional stays in the sentence.
- Made in the USA / Factory certified status
- A second Seals/Symbols entry on the same label, reading "Made in the USA / Factory certified / USA". No issuing body is named, "Factory certified" is not a recognised third-party programme, and there is no register to check because nobody is identified to check with. Certification-shaped language with no certifier behind it.
- A US retail price, and therefore the cost per day
- No verifiable US price. The research brief recorded $17.24 for the 84-count bottle, which would be $0.21 a day and the cheapest cost per billion CFU per day anywhere in this project — but samsclub.com returns HTTP 307 to a CAPTCHA interstitial ("Let us know you're human") on every attempt, the CAPTCHA was not bypassed, and web.archive.org's CDX index returned an empty set for the URL. The figure could not be independently re-verified at this pass, so it is stated here as a carried number and is not published as this product's price. Every other fact on this page — count, servings, strain list, CFU basis, seals, claim language — is independently verified through the NIH label record and does not depend on it.
- A men’s-versus-women’s label diff
- The same brand’s women’s SKU has not been compared against this panel.
- An independently verified retail price
- samsclub.com returns HTTP 307 to a CAPTCHA interstitial on every attempt. The CAPTCHA was not bypassed, and web.archive.org's CDX index returned an empty set for the product URL. The $17.24 figure carried from the research brief could not be re-verified, so no price and no cost per day is published here.
- The per-organism dose of any of the ten organisms
- 124 mg and 10 billion live cells are stated in total only. No per-organism count is disclosed for any of them, including the two that carry designators and are the reason to buy the product. Either could be present at a token dose and the label would look identical.
- The current standing of the USP Verified mark at USP
- Six issuer paths returned HTTP 403 or 404 and the Wayback copy of the register returned an empty 302. The claim is confirmed present on the physical carton across two government label generations; its standing at the issuer is not confirmed. Recorded as brand-asserted, never as absent.
- The Member's Mark women's SKU panel
- It has no DSLD record and samsclub.com is CAPTCHA-gated, so no label surface was obtainable and no women's-versus-default comparison is asserted.
How to check every line of this page yourself
Nothing on this page requires trusting us. Every claim above resolves to a record you can open:
- Open the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database record linked at the top of this page. It is the label the manufacturer filed, not our transcription of it.
- Compare the CFU line and the suggested-use line against the disclosure table above. If they disagree with us, we are wrong and we want to know.
- Take any strain designator from the panel and run the query printed beside it. The query is published precisely so you can get a different answer than we did.
- Divide the price by the number of days the label’s own dose instructions make the container last. That arithmetic is the whole of the cost-per-day row.
- Search the certifier’s own register for this product, not for the brand. A company can participate in a programme without this product being on its list.
A store brand out-disclosed most of the branded men’s SKUs in this project, and still cannot tell you how much of anything you are getting.
Start with what is genuinely good, because there is more of it than expected. The potency guarantee is the honest form — “contains 10 billion live cells when manufactured and until at least the ‘Best Used By’ date” — present in two independent label generations transcribed from two physical cartons a year apart. The capsules are blister-packed and delayed-release, which is what a real stability strategy looks like. Two of the ten organisms carry proper designators: B. lactis HN019, with the label naming its owner (“HN019 is a trademark of Fonterra Limited”), and L. rhamnosus GG. Both have substantial randomised literatures — 36 randomised trials under HN019, 170 under LGG — and HN019’s evidence for gut transit and immune endpoints maps onto what this product actually claims. There is even a specific, genuinely useful instruction most of this category omits: “Do not take within two hours of taking antibiotics.”
Now the blend. Proprietary Probiotic Blend — 124 mg, annotated “10 Billion Live Cells”, across ten organisms, with no per-organism count for any of them. Two of ten are identified precisely enough to check. Zero of ten have a verifiable delivered dose. HN019’s trials run in the 1–10 billion range; whether this capsule holds 1 billion of it or 100 million is not determinable from the label. And the two undisclosed organisms that matter most are exactly the two the marketing leads with.
Which is what breaks the claim on the front. The label says “Compare vs. align Probiotic 24/7 digestive support.” Align’s active is B. longum subsp. infantis 35624 — one strain, precisely identified. Member’s Mark lists “Bifidobacterium infantis” species-only, no designator, no dose. The invited head-to-head is framed as like-for-like and, on the axis that decides the outcome, is not. The honest version cuts both ways: Align’s 35624 line guarantees only 1 × 10⁷ CFU at its best-by date, so a 10 billion through-expiry commitment is on its face far stronger — while Member’s Mark cannot tell you how much of its 10 billion is the organism the comparison is about.
The certification is the sharpest unresolved thing here. The carton carries a USP Verified seal — and USP Verified is a materially stronger claim than most marks in this category, because by its own description it covers ingredients, potency and manufacturing process, i.e. whether the CFU count and strain identity are real. Six paths at usp.org and quality-supplements.org returned 403, a JSON endpoint returned 404, and the Wayback copy returned an empty 302. So: brand-asserted, unverified — confirmed present on the physical carton by a US government database across two label generations, with its standing at the issuer unconfirmed. Not refuted. Just unanswerable, because the register that would settle it does not answer machines.
Two closing notes. “Lactobacillus acidophillus” is misspelled on the label, and the misspelling survived a full label revision — a small signal about quality control on a product whose headline asset is a testing claim. And nothing on this page comes from the retailer: samsclub.com is CAPTCHA-gated, so the price, the bullets and the images were never read, and the price this teardown carried could not be re-verified. It is left off the page rather than estimated.