Kratom lab testing explained: panels, limits, and how to spot a fake COA

“Lab tested” is the most common claim on Canadian kratom sites and the least standardized. It can mean a full panel on the retail lot you bought, run by an accredited lab last month, or a one-page supplier PDF from Indonesia that is three years old and describes a different batch. This guide explains what a proper kratom test panel covers, where the limits come from, how to tell a real certificate of analysis from decoration, and how KratomSource’s own programme with Murray-Brown Laboratories works. It is written so a buyer can check a vendor’s claims without a chemistry degree.

Last reviewed: November 9, 2026. Part of the KratomSource knowledge base. For a line-by-line walk through a real report, see how to read a COA.

The five things a complete panel measures

1. Alkaloid content (potency and identity)

Measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC-UV) or LC-MS/MS against certified reference standards. A leaf-powder result should show mitragynine somewhere around 1–2% by weight and 7-hydroxymitragynine as a trace, typically below 0.05%. The alkaloid test confirms the powder is kratom at all (identity), tells you how strong it is relative to other powders, and flags spiking: a leaf powder reporting 7-OH well above 0.05%, or mitragynine above about 3%, has almost certainly had something added or is an extract sold as leaf. Some labs also report paynantheine, speciogynine and speciociliatine; a natural leaf profile has mitragynine as the clear majority alkaloid with these three as minor peaks, and a profile that lacks them is another spiking indicator.

2. Heavy metals

Measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The standard four are lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury; good kratom panels add nickel, because grinding equipment sheds it and US FDA testing found it in most products. Results are reported in parts per million (ppm, equal to mg/kg) or parts per billion. Metals come from the soil the tree grew in, water used in processing, and metal-on-metal wear in mills.

3. Microbiology

Culture plating or qPCR for Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, total aerobic count, total yeast and mould, and often coliforms or bile-tolerant gram-negative bacteria. Kratom is a sun-dried agricultural leaf handled many times before packaging, so it is never sterile; the question is whether pathogens are absent and whether total counts are within limits. The 2018 US salmonella outbreak that sickened 199 people is why this is non-negotiable.

4. Mycotoxins

Aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2) and ochratoxin A, by LC-MS/MS. These are produced by moulds that grow on damp plant material in storage and shipping; they survive drying and are not visible. Many vendor panels skip this test. It is in ours.

5. Adulterants and residues

Less commonly run, but increasingly relevant: screens for synthetic opioids and other drugs (fentanyl analogues, tramadol, phenibut, synthetic cannabinoids have all been found in “kratom” products in North America), pesticide residue panels, and residual solvents for extracts. A vendor selling leaf powder from a consistent processor may reasonably omit pesticide and solvent panels; a vendor selling extracts or “enhanced” products that omits an adulterant screen is leaving out the test most likely to find a problem.

Where the limits come from

There is no Canadian regulatory standard for kratom because Health Canada has not authorized it as a product for consumption. Labs and vendors therefore borrow limits from frameworks written for similar materials. The three most commonly cited, and the ones a Canadian buyer should recognize on a certificate, are below.

Analyte	Health Canada NHP Quality Guide (per day, 70 kg adult)	USP <2232> dietary supplements (per day)	Typical kratom panel limit
Lead	≈ 20 µg	10 µg	≤ 0.5–1 ppm
Arsenic (inorganic)	≈ 10 µg	15 µg	≤ 1–1.5 ppm
Cadmium	≈ 6 µg	5 µg	≤ 0.5 ppm
Mercury	≈ 20 µg	15 µg	≤ 0.1–0.5 ppm
Total aerobic count	≤ 10,000 CFU/g*	≤ 10,000 CFU/g*	≤ 100,000 CFU/g
Yeast and mould	≤ 100 CFU/g*	≤ 100 CFU/g*	≤ 10,000 CFU/g
E. coli	Absent in 1 g	Absent in 1 g	Absent
Salmonella	Absent in 10 g	Absent in 10 g	Absent in 25 g
S. aureus	Absent in 1 g	Absent in 1 g	Absent
Aflatoxins	B1 ≤ 5 µg/kg; total ≤ 20 µg/kg (USP <561>)	same	≤ 20 ppb total

*Limits for finished oral products of natural origin without antimicrobial pretreatment (USP <1111>, Ph. Eur. 5.1.8, adopted in the Health Canada guide). Limits for unprocessed herbal raw material are ten to a thousand times higher, which is why a “pass” against an unnamed standard means little: a powder that passes raw-herb limits can fail finished-product limits by a wide margin. The “typical kratom panel” column reflects the American Kratom Association GMP programme and what Canadian vendors most often publish; note that its microbial limits are closer to raw-material than finished-product standards.

Heavy-metal limits are defined per day of exposure, not per gram, so converting them to a per-gram figure requires assuming how much a person uses. A certificate that reports 0.8 ppm lead and marks it “pass” has made that assumption without telling you. The FDA’s 2019 analysis found average lead and nickel levels in kratom products that would exceed safe daily exposure for someone using the larger amounts surveys describe. Good certificates state the standard and the assumed daily quantity; ours do.

Supplier COA versus retail-lot COA

This is the single most important distinction when reading a vendor’s lab page. A supplier COA was commissioned by the Indonesian processor or exporter on a bulk lot before it shipped; since 2024 Indonesia requires one for export. It describes the powder as it left Borneo. A retail-lot COA was commissioned by the Canadian vendor on the powder after it arrived, was stored and was repacked into the bags customers receive. Only the second describes what you bought. Our vendor rubric gives the lab category’s full marks only for retail-lot testing with a lot number that matches the bag; supplier certificates earn partial credit, and “lab tested” with nothing published earns none.

How to tell a real certificate from a decoration

Fabricated and recycled certificates exist in this market. Work through this list before trusting one.

• Laboratory identity. A real certificate names the lab, its address, and usually its accreditation (ISO/IEC 17025 is the standard for testing labs; in Canada, accreditation is granted by the Standards Council of Canada or CALA). You should be able to find the lab, and it should confirm on request that the report number is theirs. A certificate with no lab name, or with a lab that does not exist, is worthless.
• Lot or batch number, and the date. The certificate must carry a lot number, and the bag you received must carry the same one. A date years in the past, or a certificate with no date, describes nothing you can buy.
• Sample description. It should say what was tested (product name, form, quantity received) and who submitted it. A certificate describing “kratom powder, 25 kg” was a supplier bulk test, not your bag.
• Actual values and detection limits. A real report gives a number for each analyte, or “< LOQ” with the limit of quantitation stated. A column of “PASS” with no numbers, or suspiciously round numbers (exactly 1.50% mitragynine, exactly 0.00 ppm lead on every metal), is a sign the document was written rather than produced.
• The standard applied. It should name what the result was compared with. “Within limits” with no limit stated is meaningless, as the table above shows.
• Method named. HPLC, LC-MS/MS, ICP-MS, plate count or qPCR should appear next to each section.
• Consistency across the vendor’s catalogue. If every strain on a vendor’s site shows identical values, one test was copied onto many products. Natural leaf varies batch to batch.
• The document itself. Editable PDFs, mismatched fonts, lab logos that do not match the lab’s own site and cropped screenshots are all common. Ask the vendor for the original PDF and the lab’s report number.
• Who paid. Vendor-commissioned testing is normal and legitimate, and still a conflict of interest, which is why third-party programmes buy their own samples. We do.

How KratomSource tests

We order from the vendor’s public store like any customer, pay with our own funds, and record the lot number on the bag. The sealed retail bag goes to Murray-Brown Laboratories, our independent partner lab, which runs the alkaloid, heavy-metal, microbiology and mycotoxin panels described above and, for extracts and any sample with an anomalous alkaloid profile, an adulterant screen. Results are published on each vendor’s page and in our lab results archive as the original report with the lot number visible, and the vendor is informed at the same time the public is. A vendor cannot pay to be tested, pay to be retested, or review a result before publication. The full procedure, including how a “failed” status is assigned and how long it stays on a vendor’s page, is on How we test.

Questions we are asked

Does a passing COA mean the product is safe? It means the lot tested did not exceed the stated limits for the analytes tested. It says nothing about effects, interactions or dependence, and nothing about a different lot. See our research summary for what the literature says about those.

Why do Canadian vendors say “not for human consumption” and also publish food-style microbial testing? Because the legal label and the practical reality diverge. Vendors test to finished-product or raw-material standards because buyers demand it and because a salmonella outbreak would end the business; the label reflects Health Canada’s position that no kratom product is authorized for consumption. Our legal guide explains that gap.

Can I get a product tested myself? Yes. Several Canadian and US accredited labs accept botanical samples from the public; a basic alkaloid and heavy-metal panel typically costs in the low hundreds of dollars. If you do, keep the bag and lot number and tell us; we track independently submitted results.

Sources

• Health Canada, Quality of Natural Health Products Guide (tolerance limits for heavy metals and microbial contaminants).
• USP General Chapters <2232> Elemental Contaminants in Dietary Supplements; <1111> Microbiological Examination of Nonsterile Products: Acceptance Criteria; <561> Articles of Botanical Origin (aflatoxins); <2023> Microbiological Attributes of Nonsterile Nutritional and Dietary Supplements.
• American Kratom Association, GMP Standards Program, product testing requirements.
• US FDA, FDA and Kratom: laboratory analysis of heavy metals in kratom products (2019).
• CDC, Multistate outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to kratom products, 2018.
• Lydecker AG et al. Suspected adulteration of commercial kratom products with 7-hydroxymitragynine. J Med Toxicol 2016;12:341–349.
• ISO/IEC 17025:2017, General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. Standards Council of Canada; Canadian Association for Laboratory Accreditation.

Frequently asked questions

What should a kratom lab test include?

Alkaloid content (mitragynine and 7-OH), heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, ideally nickel), microbiology (salmonella, E. coli, S. aureus, total counts, yeast and mould), mycotoxins, and for extracts an adulterant screen.

What heavy-metal limits apply to kratom in Canada?

None specific to kratom. Labs borrow Health Canada's Natural Health Product tolerance limits or USP , which are defined per day of exposure, so a per-gram pass depends on an assumed daily amount that a good certificate states.

How can I tell if a COA is fake?

Check for a named, accredited lab you can contact; a lot number matching your bag; a recent date; actual values with detection limits rather than a column of PASS; the standard applied; and whether every product on the site shows identical results.

What is the difference between supplier and retail-lot testing?

A supplier COA tests bulk powder before export. A retail-lot COA tests the repacked bag a customer receives. KratomSource buys retail bags anonymously and tests them at Murray-Brown Laboratories.