Certificates of Analysis Checklist
What a real COA should contain — and how to spot a sloppy one.
Last updated: 19 April 2026
What a useful COA contains
Compound identity. Lab name and accreditation. Test methods. Raw chromatograms and spectra. Purity figures with method-specific limits of detection. Batch number and date.
Red flags
No raw data. Logo without a lab name. Generic 99%+ purity claims with no methodology. Same COA reused across batches. Edited PDFs.