Purity verification
A certificate of analysis (COA) is the document declaring the purity and identity of a batch. Knowing how to read it is the only way to objectively assess a peptide supplier.
This page explains what each technique measures, how to interpret a COA, and why a certificate issued at origin does not, on its own, prove the received vial belongs to that batch.
What a COA is
A certificate of analysis is the document a laboratory issues about a specific batch of material. It is not a marketing statement or a promise: it is an analytical report with a batch number, a date and a responsible laboratory behind it.
The difference between a supplier that publishes COAs and one that merely declares "purity >99%" is the difference between a verifiable figure and an assertion. In a review of the Colombian research peptide market, the vast majority of sites declare a purity figure without naming any laboratory, which makes the claim impossible to check.
How to read a COA
A useful certificate always contains these fields. If any is missing, the document does not allow verification.
| Field | What must appear | Red flag |
|---|---|---|
| Issuing laboratory | Full name and contact details of a real, independent laboratory. | Generic logo, "certified laboratory" with no name. |
| Batch number | Code matching exactly the one printed on the vial. | No batch, or a batch that does not match the physical product. |
| Analysis date | Later than and consistent with the production date. | No date, or a date earlier than batch production. |
| Analytical method | Declared technique, typically HPLC for purity and MS for identity. | "Analysed" without specifying the technique. |
| Raw data | Chromatogram and spectrum included in the document. | Only a final percentage, with no plots. |
| Molecular identity | Measured mass and theoretical peptide mass, which must match. | Absence of mass spectrometry. |
A point often overlooked: purity and identity are two different questions. A material can be 99% pure and not be the peptide it claims to be. Without mass spectrometry, the purity figure does not say what was purified.
HPLC and mass spectrometry
HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) separates sample components according to their interaction with a column. The result is a chromatogram with peaks: the area of the main peak against the total area gives the purity percentage. It answers how much of the content is the target compound?
Mass spectrometry measures the mass-to-charge ratio of ionised molecules. By comparing measured mass with the theoretical mass calculated from the amino acid sequence, it confirms identity. It answers is this molecule what it claims to be?
Why both are needed
- HPLC without MS: you know 99% of the sample is a single compound, but not which one.
- MS without HPLC: you know the correct peptide is present, but not in what proportion.
- Both together: you know what it is and how much there is. That is the minimum for useful characterisation.
Why one layer is not enough
Here is the gap almost nobody mentions. A manufacturer COA certifies what the manufacturer produced. It is a document about a batch that existed in a plant, on a date.
What that document does not demonstrate is that the vial arriving in Colombia, after packing, export, international transit and storage, is material from that same batch. The certificate is valid; it simply answers a question earlier in the chain.
Destination counter-verification closes precisely that gap: it analyses the material that actually arrives and confirms it corresponds to what was certified at origin.
Our process
At Vital Boost, material is verified at two different points in the chain.
Origin COA — Janoshik Analytical
Each batch arrives with a certificate of analysis issued by Janoshik Analytical, an independent analytical laboratory based in Czechia, on the batch the manufacturer produces. It includes purity by HPLC and identity by mass spectrometry.
Destination counter-verification — BT Labs
We contract BT Labs, an independent laboratory, to analyse the material that actually arrives in Colombia. It is not an in-house laboratory: it is a contracted third party, precisely so that verification does not depend on us.
Correspondence between both layers
The destination result is checked against the origin certificate. The question this step answers is concrete: does the received material correspond to the certified batch?
Certificates for each batch are shared with buyers who request them. This page is educational and does not publish batch documents; to obtain the COA for a specific batch, request it on WhatsApp indicating the product.
Track record
- Vital Boost has been operating in the Colombian market for over a year with this double verification process applied to every batch.
- Over that period the scheme has worked consistently: every batch sold has entered with an origin certificate and destination counter-verification.
- Time in market matters for a concrete reason: a supplier with no history has no previous batches to show and no traceability to audit.
We validate your COA
This service is independent of where you bought. If you hold a certificate of analysis for a peptide batch and want to know whether it is a verifiable document, we review it at no cost.
- ✓Documentary consistency: that batch, dates and issuing laboratory are consistent with each other.
- ✓Correspondence with the product: that the certificate batch matches the one printed on the vial you received.
- ✓Analytical sufficiency: whether the document includes purity and identity, or only one of the two.
- ✓Chromatogram reading: what the raw data actually say against the declared figure.
This is a documentary and educational review service. We do not issue certificates on third-party material nor replace a laboratory analysis: we explain what the document in your hands says, and what it does not.
How to assess a supplier
Objective criteria, applicable to any supplier including ourselves.
Questions a serious supplier can answer
- Which laboratory issues your COAs, and can it be contacted independently?
- Does the COA correspond to the exact batch of the vial delivered to me?
- Does the certificate include a chromatogram and spectrum, or only a percentage?
- Is the material arriving in the country verified, or only what leaves the factory?
- What purity threshold is required and what happens to a batch that fails it?
- Is the product's regulatory framework openly declared?
On that last point it is worth being explicit: research-grade peptides hold no INVIMA registration and are not intended for medical, diagnostic or therapeutic use. A supplier who omits this framework or suggests otherwise is giving you a relevant signal.
