How do I spot a fake peptide COA?

Documented cases (pharmaceutical materials, not peptide sellers)

FDA's April 2017 warning letter to Sal Pharma said the firm's COAs omitted the original manufacturers' names and addresses, which FDA said compromises traceability. A trade-press report said the original producer's name was replaced with the firm's letterhead.

FDA's January 2018 warning letter to Daito Kasei Kogyo said the firm falsified a COA by signing it without running all the reported tests.

WHO's Medical Product Alert 4/2024 covered falsified propylene glycol found in Pakistan and said at least one falsified manufacturer COA had been identified.

These are allegations in regulator documents about other industries. Nothing here says any peptide seller forged a COA.

Warning signs that justify a closer look

• No laboratory address or contact, or contact details only through the seller.
• No unique report number, sample identification or lot number. ISO/IEC 17025 expects these on an accredited lab's report.
• A lot number or date that does not match the product, such as a test date before the manufacture date.
• Results with no method, unit or limit. WHO's model pairs results with acceptance criteria.
• Only a purity figure, with no identity result. 21 CFR 211.84 treats an identity test as the minimum for drug components.
• No named person authorizing the report.
• No raw data on request. Lab records for drug testing are expected to hold the chromatograms and spectra (21 CFR 211.194).
• A reseller's COA with no original manufacturer's COA attached, which WHO guidance expects.
• A claim of ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation that you cannot find in an accreditation body's directory, or tests outside the listed scope.

What does not prove forgery

• An unfamiliar laboratory name. Check the directory instead.
• Plain formatting, a scanned copy or a screenshot.
• A result that differs from another lab's. Methods, samples and sample handling differ, and a 2015 study found COA and in-house results diverging without claiming forgery.

What to do with a suspicious COA

Follow the steps in our verification guide: contact the lab through details you found yourself and ask it to confirm the report. If you hold a document you think is altered, you can send it to our tip line.