Understanding your certificate of analysis
Receiving a certificate of analysis is often viewed as the end of the analytical process. In reality it marks the beginning of another conversation.
A certificate of analysis documents the condition of a product at the time it was evaluated, providing evidence that supports product release, customer documentation, regulatory submissions and internal quality programmes.
Its value extends beyond confirming that specifications were met. Read alongside historical results, production records and product knowledge, it helps answer whether quality is holding steady over time, whether suppliers are performing consistently, whether oxidative quality has shifted against previous lots, whether the profile still supports product claims, and whether anything warrants investigation.
How to read it
What each part of the report is for
The purpose of each section, in the order it usually appears.
Product identification
Sample name, batch or lot number and client reference, linking the results to the correct product.
Sample information
Date received, date of analysis, sample condition and laboratory identification, providing traceability.
Analytical methods
The validated methods used, confirming results were generated by recognised procedures.
EPA & DHA content, and fatty acid composition
Verifies that EPA, DHA and other fatty acids align with specifications or label claims.
Oxidation results
Peroxide value (PV), p-anisidine value (AnV) and TOTOX — indicators of freshness, stability and oxidative quality.
Contaminant testing
Where applicable, heavy metals and other regulated substances, supporting market requirements.
GOED Monograph summary
Whether results align with the applicable GOED Monograph criteria, as an at-a-glance overview.
Laboratory authorisation
Laboratory approval and the authorised signatory’s signature. With the date of analysis, this is what makes a certificate a complete, defensible record.
Not every certificate carries every part — the sections that appear are the ones the work called for.
Units of expression are where certificates are misread
Units of expression are often key to reviewing a certificate correctly, and they may differ from one laboratory to another. The same determination reported on a different basis is a different number, and two certificates compared without checking the basis will disagree for a reason that has nothing to do with the product. Ask which basis a result is on before you compare it with a specification, a previous lot or a supplier’s own document.
Where a limit of quantitation or a measurement uncertainty matters to the decision you are making, ask for it. Neither is printed on the certificate; both are supplied on request for the determinations you need them for.
Questions worth asking your team
- Does everyone reviewing our certificate of analysis understand what the results mean, including the units each result is expressed in?
- Are we comparing certificates of analysis across production lots?
- Do our certificates support customer confidence as well as internal quality decisions?
- Are we maintaining analytical records that support future investigations and trend analysis?
Where this sits
Reading the certificate is stage 05 of the Confidence Journey — the point where analytical work becomes a decision. What the full monograph package reports, and against which specification each determination is judged, is set out on the Lipid Labs Omega-3 Quality Testing Package page.
Want to see one before you order? We send a redacted example report on request, so you can see exactly what you will receive and how it is laid out. Ask when you talk to a chemist. There is no specimen published here, because a certificate with invented numbers on it is not an example of anything.
A result you want to talk through?
Call the lab and ask the person who ran it. Most apparent anomalies turn out to be a sampling or handling question upstream, which is worth knowing either way.