How We Verify COAs

A Certificate of Analysis (COA) is only useful if it's real. Here's what we check when evaluating a vendor's COA practices.

1. Is the COA publicly accessible?

We check whether COAs are posted directly on the product page or in a dedicated COA library. Vendors that only provide COAs "on request" get a lower score — the whole point is transparency, not gatekeeping.

2. Does the COA name a real lab?

We verify that the testing lab named on the COA actually exists. We check for accreditation records through bodies like ISO/IEC 17025 or equivalent standards.

3. Do batch numbers match?

We cross-reference the batch number on the COA with the product listing and (where possible) the packaging. If a vendor publishes generic COAs that don't match specific batches, that's a red flag.

4. Is the COA current?

A COA from two years ago doesn't tell you much about what's in the vial today. We note the date on COAs and factor recency into our assessment.

What we can't verify

We can't verify whether a vendor actually sent their product to the lab named on the COA. That would require us to purchase products and submit them for independent testing — which is our long-term plan once revenue supports it. For now, we verify what's independently checkable.