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How to read a cannabinoid Certificate of Analysis without a chemistry degree.

By Richard Creagh, Co-Founder. Published 15 March 2026. Updated 8 May 2026.

Five things to check. Two red flags. A worked example from our own batch.

What a CoA is and why every product should ship with one

A Certificate of Analysis is a third-party lab report on a specific batch of cannabinoid product. It tells you cannabinoid potency, contaminant levels, and lab signature. Every batch we ship has a Eurofins, Celignis, or Fundación Canna certificate matched to the batch number on the bottle. The certificate is the difference between trusting a label and verifying the bottle in your hand.

The five things to check

  1. Cannabinoid potency. Does the certificate match the dose claimed on the label? A 25mg CBN gummy should report 25mg CBN per unit, plus or minus 10 percent.
  2. Batch match. The batch number on the bottle should match the batch number on the certificate. If they do not match, the certificate is not for this product.
  3. Lab name and accreditation. ISO 17025 accredited labs are the gold standard. Eurofins, Celignis, Fundación Canna, ProVerde, SC Labs are reputable. An unfamiliar lab name is worth a search.
  4. Contaminant section. Heavy metals, pesticides, microbials, residual solvents. All four sections should be present. All should report below the action limit.
  5. Signature and date. Certificates older than 12 months are stale. The certificate should be signed by the lab analyst and dated within the past year.

Red flag 1: batch on bottle does not match the certificate

If the brand displays a single CoA on the website but the bottle batch is different, the certificate is for a different production run. Premium positioning requires per-batch certificates, not per-product.

Red flag 2: no contaminant section

A potency-only certificate is half a job. Cannabinoid extraction can concentrate heavy metals, pesticides, and residual solvents from the source plant. A reputable certificate covers all four contaminant categories.

Worked example: our most recent CBN gummy batch

Batch CBN-2026-04. Tested by Eurofins Munich, signed 2026-04-12. Cannabinoid potency: 24.8mg CBN per gummy (label claim 25mg, within 1 percent). Heavy metals: lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury all below 0.1 ppm action limit. Pesticides: 60-pesticide screen, all non-detect. Microbials: total aerobic count 312 cfu per gram (limit 100,000 cfu per gram). Residual solvents: ethanol 8 ppm (limit 5,000 ppm), all others non-detect.

The labs we trust

Eurofins (Munich, ISO 17025), Celignis (Limerick, ISO 17025), Fundación Canna (Valencia, ISO 17025). All three publish methodology summaries on their public sites and respond to direct verification requests.

What to do if a brand cannot produce a CoA on demand

Walk away. A reputable cannabinoid brand publishes batch certificates as standard. If you have to email customer service to request one, you are buying through trust rather than verification.