Verification

How to verify a Certificate of Analysis

Verification means confirming two links: the document really came from the lab it names, and the results really belong to the lot in your hand. Both links break easily, and both are checkable in a few minutes.

Step 1 — Match the lot number

The lot on the certificate must be identical to the lot printed on the vial or package. Close is not a match. If the product has no lot number at all, verification is impossible and that is your answer.

Step 2 — Identify the laboratory independently

Take the lab name from the COA, then find the lab's website and phone number through an independent search — never by using the contact details printed on the document, which a forger controls. If the named lab has no independent footprint, treat the document as unverifiable.

Step 3 — Confirm with the laboratory

Ask one precise question: "Did you issue report number X for lot Y to client Z?" Reputable labs answer authenticity questions about documents bearing their name. A lab that has never heard of the report, the lot, or the client is a complete answer.

Step 4 — Confirm with the dispensing pharmacy

Ask the pharmacy to confirm the COA corresponds to the lot they dispensed to you, and request the complete report. Screenshots and cropped PDFs are easy to alter and easy to misread; a pharmacy standing behind its testing can hand over the whole document.

Step 5 — Check coherence and cross-check

Now apply the field-by-field read: dates in order, methods named (USP <71>, USP <85>), numeric results with units and acceptance ranges. Finally, cross-check any registry entry. Our registry displays only source-verified records, so a match there means the issuer has already confirmed the document once.