Choosing the right contract testing lab requires far more scrutiny than checking prices and turnaround times, according to Petra Erlandson, vice president of sales at Alkemist Labs, who spoke on lab selection at the National Animal Supplement Council's annual conference in Phoenix.
Erlandson, who has worked in the dietary supplement industry since 2006 and with Alkemist Labs since 2015, outlined a series of criteria manufacturers should use to evaluate potential lab partners, drawing on her technical sales and support background and her work on the NSF/ANSI 173 and 455.2 joint committees.
1. Is the lab engaged with the industry?
Erlandson said companies should first assess how engaged a prospective lab is with the broader industry, not just its own marketing. She said buyers should ask whether a lab participates in trade associations and working groups, presents on its area of specialty, and contributes to publications, poster presentations or webinars. She pointed to the American Botanical Council as an example of an organization that credible labs should be involved with.
"Are they participating in publications, poster presentations?" Erlandson said, adding that a lab that only runs samples without engaging in industry science raises questions about how current its knowledge is.
2. What does its accreditation actually cover?
Erlandson recommended companies consider International Organization for Standardization 17025 accreditation, which qualifies labs for calibration and testing, but cautioned that the certificate alone is not enough.
"You need to look at the certificate, but not just the certificate," she explained. "You need to look at the scope of accreditation."
She explained that the scope document lists the exact test methods a lab has been found compliant with. "It's not just 17025 — it is the scope of accreditation, it is the exact methods that laboratory has been found compliant with," she added.
She illustrated the point with an analogy: hiring a lab without checking its specific qualifications is like "hiring a plumber to do your electrical work."
3. Have you defined your specifications?
Erlandson said the responsibility for defining what is being tested, the specification, rests with the client not the lab.
"Specification is your job as the client, it's not the lab's job," she said. "If you're not clear about your specification before you start that discussion with the lab, it just might not work out the way you want it to."
4. What are its test methods and quality controls?
Buyers should understand a lab's standard operating procedures for test methods, how it handles out-of-specification results, and whether it participates in National Institute of Standards and Technology proficiency testing, Erlandson said. She also pointed to quality control acceptance criteria, including laboratory control samples, duplicates, blanks and peak purity, as areas companies should discuss with labs to ensure both sides agree on what "fit for purpose" and "scientifically valid" testing means.
5. What reference materials does it use?
Erlandson urged buyers to ask detailed questions about the qualitative reference materials a lab uses for botanical testing, including how those materials are characterized and what solvent was used in preparation. She said labs should also test against "confounding" references, other plant species or plant parts, to confirm a method can actually distinguish the target material from look-alikes.
"If you don't have other reference materials of other species of plants, of other plant parts, you cannot know if your method can discriminate between them," she explained.
She raised similar concerns about chemical reference standards, noting that suppliers offer products at widely varying price points and purity levels, not all suitable for calibration.
"You have to ask questions, you have to know details," Erlandson said, adding that companies should request the vendor, catalog number and lot number for any reference standard a lab uses.
6. Does it disclose full data, not just conclusions?
Erlandson said companies should expect labs to provide full documentation, including method details, chromatograms and images, rather than summary conclusions alone.
"When a lab won't tell you what the data was, or what the method was, that's a huge red flag," she said.
She encouraged buyers to review underlying data even without a chemistry background, checking for basic red flags such as unclear thin-layer chromatography bands or chromatograms lacking clean baseline separation. She shared an example in which a competing lab's report for a client showed a sample tested against only one reference material, with no confounding reference included, making it impossible to confirm the method's ability to discriminate between similar materials.
7. Who's your technical contact, and can you speak directly to them?
Erlandson recommended asking whether a lab provides a dedicated technical contact or routes all inquiries through a general switchboard.
She added companies should know whether they have access to the scientists behind the testing when questions arise, particularly if a result comes back unexpected or out of specification.
Begin with the end in mind
Erlandson closed by citing author Stephen Covey's principle of beginning with the end in mind, describing it as a framework for lab selection.
"To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination — it means to know where you're going, so that you better understand where you are now, and so that the steps you take are always in the right direction," she said.
