The anchor
How to verify what you put in your body.
You don't need your own lab. You need to mail a sample to an independent one. This is the standard we apply to every compound on this site, and the one you can hand to any vendor and ask them to meet. If they won't, you have your answer.
The five tests that matter
Purity. The headline number (aim ≥98–99%). What most vendors show. And the easiest to cherry-pick by batch.
Identity. Confirms the vial actually contains the molecule on the label. The test that catches substitution, the most dangerous failure.
Contamination. Bacterial endotoxin is injected straight into you, is invisible to HPLC, and signals poor manufacturing hygiene. The test everyone skips.
Residual lead, arsenic, etc. from synthesis. Rarely shown, occasionally damning.
Whether the product is actually sterile. Matters the moment a needle is involved.
The independent labs we trust
Two labs have built their whole reputation on batch-level honesty. Janoshik is our go-to. HPLC plus mass spec, with a public verification portal so a result can't be quietly edited after the fact. Finnrick buys products at retail and publishes the data across thousands of samples and hundreds of vendors.
The one rule we never break
Never use a vendor-recommended tester. A COA is only as trustworthy as the independence of whoever ran it. A lab chosen and paid by the seller is marketing, not verification.
How to read a Certificate of Analysis
- 1Match the batch/lot number on the COA to the number on your vial. A COA for a different batch tells you nothing about yours. This is the most common sleight of hand.
- 2Check the date. Identity and purity drift over production runs; an old COA isn't your product.
- 3Confirm all four columns, not just purity: identity (mass spec), purity (HPLC ≥98%), endotoxin (LAL), and net peptide content. The actual milligrams, which is often less than the label.
- 4Look for the lab's name and a way to independently verify the result. No verifiable source = treat it as decorative.
The contamination risk nobody talks about
The bacteriostatic water you reconstitute with is a bigger contamination risk than the peptide itself. We use pharmaceutical-grade BAC water, refrigerate the reconstituted vial, and swap the water every 28 days. That's when the benzyl-alcohol preservative stops being reliable.
Every peptide profile we've written links its verification section back to this page. See the graded index →