How to read a certificate of analysis, using one of ours
A certificate with one number on it is decoration. A real one names the lot, the method, the limits, and the results, and lets you pull the same document from the lab yourself.
Where it standsEvergreen. The example is a real certificate on a real lot.
Every supplier in this category says its material is tested. Almost none of them will show you the test. That gap is where the whole problem lives, and it closes the moment you ask for the document instead of the adjective.
What a certificate has to name
A certificate is evidence about one lot of material, and it's only evidence if it says which lot. Everything else on it is context: who measured, by what method, against what limit, and what they found.
- The lot code, which should also be on the vial.
- The lab, by name.
- The method, so you know what the number measures.
- The limit, so you know what counts as a pass.
- The result, so you know what this lot actually did.
- The dates the sample arrived and was analyzed.
- A person's signature.
One of ours, line by line
Certificate #33593 covers Sermorelin 10 mg, lot RECODE4X3KZ3. The sample reached the lab on March 27, 2026 and was analyzed on March 28, 2026.
| Line | What it says on this lot |
|---|---|
| Laboratory | Chromate, verify portal at chromate.org/verify |
| Product and lot code | Sermorelin 10 mg, RECODE4X3KZ3 |
| Method | Qualitative and quantitative analysis by RP-HPLC with UV detection (220 nm) |
| Identity | Sermorelin, conforms |
| Quantity | 11.36 mg found against 10 mg labeled (+13.6%), conforms |
| Purity | 98.028% against a >98% specification, conforms |
| Metals | Below 50 ppb, against a <50 ppb limit, conforms |
| Signed | Lucas Weber, Principal Chemist; produced March 29, 2026 |
Four results, because that's what this certificate reports: identity, quantity, purity, metals. A longer list of assays doesn't automatically make a better document. It's only better if the lab actually ran them, and the certificate is where you find that out.
Which number actually matters
The purity reading on this lot is a measurement against a >98% spec. It's a fact about this lot and nothing else. A headline number on a website, averaged across lots nobody names, is a different kind of claim. If a supplier quotes an average, ask which lots it averages.
Verify it without asking us
The certificate has an access code. Type it into Chromate's verification page and the lab returns the same document from its own records. A certificate you can only get from the seller is a PDF. A certificate you can pull from the lab is a record.
Apply that test to anyone, including us. If the document can't be retrieved independently, all it's told you is what the seller wanted to say.
Where ReVia stands
The number on a website is a spec. The number on a certificate is a measurement of one lot. Anyone selling you a peptide should be able to hand you the second, and most of what looks like proof in this category is the first.
Sources
Every factual claim above is numbered to one of these. Where a primary document exists, it is linked in preference to anyone’s summary of it.
- [1]
Chromate · March 28, 2026
Signed Lucas Weber, Principal Chemist; produced March 29, 2026. The readings quoted above are transcribed from it.
- [2]
Chromate
Where an access code returns the certificate from the laboratory's own database.
Related
This is reporting and commentary, and it isn’t legal advice. Regulatory status is described as we understand it on the date shown. Compounds mentioned are for research use only and are not for human or animal consumption.