We are often asked, multiple times daily, whether our supplements are third-party tested, so we decided to write a blog post on the topic. If you're a bit of a nerd like me, this article is for you.
What are 3rd party tested supplements?
Third-party testing of supplements is done in a few different ways.
The first is when a company sends a sample of its product to a lab of its choosing, with a list of things it would like tested for. The company can choose the testing methods or use the lab's suggested methods.
The second type is organizations like Consumerlab or Consumer Reports, which have products tested, and people can pay to see the results.
Another type is done by groups like Lead Safe Mama, which are focused on a particular type of contaminant in products, such as lead, and publish their findings publicly for people to see.
A fourth type is groups like NSF and USP, which companies can pay to certify their products. Each group has different standards and methods, some more strict than others. Companies can then use the organization's seal on their packaging and marketing.
Fifth is when companies like ours send some of the products we sell off to a lab for testing. In this case, a company like ours would decide what they wanted to test for and the testing methods or rely on the lab's recommendations.
Problems with supplement third-party testing
While third-party testing might seem like a great way to ensure that a product is safe and of good quality, a host of issues prevent it from being a useful measure. I say this as a company that sells a lot of products that are third-party tested in various ways.
What are the problems?
The first problem is a lack of standards for methodology, testing, and standards. There is no agreed-upon set of tests and standards for any material or supplement, so each organization will have its own. Products that pass one third-party testing panel would fail others, and so forth.
This leads to many gaps, especially in testing for the full range of things that need to be tested for. When a third-party group gives their seal of approval to a product, saying it’s clean and safe, but they didn’t test for half the things that should be tested for in that particular supplement, does that mean it’s clean and safe? No, it does not, but it has a third-party tested seal, so people think it’s great. These things do a real disservice and create a false sense of security. One popular third-party supplement testing website recently did a big turmeric/curcumin supplement testing, but it did not test for solvent residue, such as ethylene dichloride, a very common but dangerous solvent used in the manufacture of turmeric/curcumin raw materials and metanil yellow, a banned food dye commonly found in turmeric supplements. None of those products should be certified as clean and safe if they are not fully and properly tested. Yet, a bunch of these companies are out there bragging about how they passed third-party testing by this company.
Many of these third-party companies have a program that sells supplement companies that the public is unaware of. These supposedly independent and impartial third-party testers will withhold negative results from the public when these companies fail tests and give them a chance to send a new sample because they are paying to be a part of the program. This is a horrible practice that should be illegal.
Another problem we see often is companies sending a product for third-party testing and testing for one thing because it’s cheap. Then, they can say it was third-party tested. For example, I could send a multivitamin supplement to a third-party lab, have them test for vitamin A content, and then label it third-party tested, which, while technically accurate, clearly does not mean anything.
Sensationalism and Fear In Third-party Supplement Testing
There has recently been a proliferation of organizations claiming to be looking out for the consumer and publishing third-party results on heavy metals like lead in foods and supplements.
While it is good to consume the least amount of lead and heavy metals possible, these companies often use measurements or standards that make people scared of foods or supplements that are very safe because they don’t give them anything to compare it to because if they did, people would realize they were just fear-mongering. However, their creation of fear gets them lots of clicks, shares on social media, and views, which makes them lots of money. Many people don’t know this, but many of these organizations sell a seal or certification, and if a company buys their seal or pays for their program, they won’t reveal negative information about them.
For example, recently, there was a big blow-up about several popular salt brands having heavy metals like lead. What these companies don’t reveal is that if you consumed an average serving of that salt, you would get a similar amount of heavy metals as if you were eating a serving of root vegetables like beets or carrots. However, if they revealed that information, people would not be scared and would not get so many clicks, views, and ad money.
Do some products have excessive amounts of heavy metals? Absolutely! For example, there was a recent applesauce that had cinnamon that was very high in lead. Should we require more companies to test foods for heavy metals? Yes, of course! However, when giving heavy metal test results, these places should not just list amounts in things like ppb, which most people don’t understand, but how they compare to common foods in actual serving sizes so people can make an accurate judgment. No one eats a cup of salt daily, but you can easily eat a cup of roasted beets. Comparing the lead in a cup of salt versus a cup of beets is nonsense. These companies are just after clicks and ad money, not looking out for you; otherwise, they would provide helpful information, not just scare tactics.
In addition, heavy metals are not the only things that need to be tested. Just because a product is low in heavy metals does not mean it is free of other contamination, adulteration or meets label claims.
Supplement third-party testing is missing a lot
Third-party testing of supplements often misses many things. Here are a few examples. It is definitely not a complete list, as that would require several books to fill out and go over in detail.
Solvent residue is a big problem in many popular supplements, including turmeric/curcumin. Many of these supplements are contaminated with awful solvents like ethylene dichloride, hexane, or acetone. The standard testing for solvent residue in herbal supplements is gas chromatography. However, because of certain properties of curcuminoids, this test cannot correctly detect solvent residues in them. A different test, gas headspace, needs to be used. The amount of companies and third-party testing companies saying products are free of solvent residue that used the wrong testing method is massive. The test results do not mean anything if the wrong testing method is used. That’s why looking at a third-party test result without knowing the proper testing methods is useless.
Another common testing issue that third-party testing often misses is overdilution. Overdilution is the practice of cutting a raw material, such as a botanical, with something, such as maltodextrin. This maltodextrin is often not shown on the ingredients label. It's a cheap and easy way to cheat common adulteration testing.
For example:
“As for that first method of cutting with extreme levels of excipients, the HerbalGram authors describe a valerian root extract cut to 0.25% with maltodextrin, levels undetectable by authentication testing with high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC).”
Most companies, including third-party testing agencies, are entirely unaware of this adulteration, so they don’t test for it or don’t want to spend the extra money to run additional tests.
Spent materials are another common problem not addressed by third-party testing. Spent materials are those left after an extract is produced. For example, when making cranberry extract, there is a leftover material. This material has had nearly all of the beneficial compounds, such as PAC’s, removed, but is technically cranberry powder. It will have no benefit and should be discarded or used as animal feed, compost, etc. Instead, unscrupulous or unknowing companies buy this material because it is super cheap and sell it as a cranberry supplement. Often, these spent powders will be labeled as 4:1, 10:1, 50:1, etc, making them seem potent because it took lots of material to make the original extract, but this remaining powder is nothing but a shadow of that extract. Common third-party testing schemes will show it is as cranberry, and the product gets a third-party certification despite it being completely useless. This is one of the reasons ( (but not the only) a lot of clinical trials show no benefit from taking cranberry or other herbal supplements.
Adulteration can take many forms, from spiking with compounds to cheat standard testing methods, diluents, additives to increase the weight and much more. Adulteration is getting more sophisticated and more creative. It’s an arms race between the people doing the adulteration and the people developing tests to detect the new forms. It is far cheaper and faster to create new adulteration types than to develop new methods to detect them. These new tests are also much more expensive, so most companies don’t want to pay for them. Very few third-party labs deploy any of these newer methods because of the cost of the machines and training.
Third-party supplements testing and dry labbing
Another issue that arises is that many companies are doing “third-party” testing using something called dry labbing. This is where you pay a company to say they tested your products and give you the exact results you want, but they did not actually test the product. This is a widespread practice but certainly not a good thing. We found a whole bunch of companies using third-party testing symbols on their products and marketing materials that used dry-labbing. So, while they may say they are third-party tested and provide “test results,” there was no testing done.
A fun practice that is becoming more common is companies taking test results from another company, changing the company and product name on the test results, and using them as their own. Sometimes, you even get companies just creating their own test results, which is pretty easy to do now with AI technology. Boom! Fake third-party test results in just minutes.
third party testing of supplements Ethics And the Environment
Another issue is that third-party test results tell you nothing about the ethics or environmental issues related to the creation of the product. If a product tests great but is made with prison or child labor, is it really a good product? Plenty of third-party tested products made with materials such as cacao and garlic were harvested and produced with slave labor. Are they great products because the third-party test results are good?
Should you rely on third-party testing for supplements?
While it may feel good to see a product labeled third-party tested or to request test results and have companies send you them, but unless you truly know what you are looking for in terms of what should be tested and the right testing methods, it’s not really beneficial. Because of these issues, third-party testing has become a marketing gimmick, not a symbol of quality. That’s why we do not rely on it to determine product safety and quality, and you should not either.
What should you look for to know if a supplement is good quality?
We are working on a comprehensive article on this topic and hope to release it soon. In the meantime, we recommend this article to get you started.
Third-party supplement testing questions and support
If you have questions about quality control and testing, please email us at info@rooted-nutrition.com, and we will be happy to answer them!