Quality and inspection
Choosing a laboratory.
A test result is only useful if the laboratory was accredited for that method and your market accepts it. Buyers frequently pay for testing that turns out not to answer the question anyone will ask.
What to check before booking.
Four things, and the second is the one that catches people.
- Accreditation
- To a recognised standard, by a body your market recognises. An unaccredited laboratory produces numbers rather than evidence.
- Scope
- Accreditation is per method and per matrix. A laboratory accredited for heavy metals in water is not automatically accredited for heavy metals in dried spice.
- Method
- Which method, because your market may specify one. A result by a different method can be technically correct and not accepted.
- Turnaround
- Some tests take days and some take weeks. If the result gates a shipment, the turnaround is part of the lead time.
Testing at origin or at destination.
At origin, before shipment, is what prevents a rejected container. It costs the same and it is the timing that matters.
At destination is what your own market will accept without question, and by then the goods have travelled.
Many buyers do both on a first order and then origin-only once a supplier is proven. Which tests move to a sample frequency is a risk decision worth reviewing.
Where a laboratory is chosen by the supplier, treat the result as an indication. The laboratory you selected is the one that produces evidence.
Sampling is half the answer.
A perfect analysis of an unrepresentative sample is a wrong result. How the sample was taken matters as much as who tested it.
For bulk goods, incremental sampling across the lot and a composite, taken by somebody independent.
Retain a sealed portion of the same sample. Without it, a disputed result cannot be re-tested against the same material.
Record the batch, the date and who took it. A result that cannot be tied to a consignment does not settle anything.
Questions buyers ask.
Can I use the supplier's test report?
As an indication, yes, and for anything that decides money it should be a laboratory you chose. This is particularly true in categories where adulteration is a known problem.
What is accreditation scope?
The specific methods and matrices a laboratory is accredited for. A laboratory can be accredited and still be outside scope for your test, which makes the result unusable as evidence.
Should I test every shipment?
For the tests that decide market access, on a first order certainly, and then at a frequency matched to the risk. Dropping testing entirely on a proven supplier is how the shipment after that one fails.
Read next.
What to test, and where
Which properties need a laboratory rather than an inspector, and whether to test at origin or at destination.
How to read a certificate of analysis
Five checks that take a minute each and catch most of what is wrong with the certificates buyers accept daily.
What acceptance sampling actually proves
An inspector opens a fraction of the cartons. What that fraction can and cannot tell you, and how to set the level before a dispute.
What certified means
Certificates prove a narrow thing about a specific scope on a date. How to read one properly.
Sourcing from Indonesia?
Tell us the product, the quantity and the destination. We come back with what it involves before anyone talks about money.