COA
How to read a COA
Work the load-bearing fields first: lot, laboratory, method, date. If those cannot be resolved, the percentages cannot be interpreted.
Teaching specimen. Every identifier below is invented for this explainer. It is not a certificate for a real product, lot or laboratory.
Certificate of analysis
Specimen · not a real report
Select a field. The panel explains what it establishes and what it does not.
Field
Lot / batch
EXAMPLE-LOT-NOT-REAL
What this tells you
Which production run the laboratory says it tested. This is the join key between a certificate and a physical container.
What this does not tell you
Whether the lot number on a shipped vial is the same number, or whether later reprocessing occurred after the test date.
Longer field-by-field guide: How to read a peptide certificate of analysis. Worksheet: COA audit sheet.