In the present contribution, we investigate first-order nonlinear systems of partial differential equations which are constituted of two parts: a system of conservation laws and non-conservative first order terms. Whereas the theory of first-order systems of conservation laws is well established and the conditions for the existence of a supplementary conservation law for smooth solutions, well known, there exists so far no general extension when non-conservative terms are present. We propose a framework in order to extend the existing theory and show that the presence of non-conservative terms somewhat complexifies the problem since numerous combinations of the conservative and non-conservative terms can lead to a supplementary conservation law. We then identify a restricted framework in order to design and analyze physical models of complex fluid flows by means of computer algebra and thus obtain the entire ensemble of possible combination of conservative and non-conservative terms to obtain a supplementary conservation law. The theory as well as developed computer algebra tool are then applied to a Baer-Nunziato two-phase flow model and to a multicomponent plasma fluid model. The first one is a first-order fluid model, with non-conservative terms impacting on the linearly degenerate field and requires a closure since there is no way to derive interfacial quantities from averaging principles and we need guidance in order to close the pressure and velocity of the interface and the thermodynamics of the mixture. The second one involves first order terms for the heavy species coupled to second order terms for the electrons , the non-conservative terms impact the genuinely nonlinear fields and the model can be rigorously derived from kinetic theory. We show how the theory allows to recover the whole spectrum of closures obtained so far in the literature for the two-phase flow system as well as conditions when one aims at extending the thermodynamics and also applies to the plasma case, where we recover the usual entropy supplementary equation, thus assessing the effectiveness and scope of the proposed theory.