Lab testing
How to read a kratom lab report, section by section
Lab header and accreditation, sample ID versus lot number, the alkaloid table, LOD and LOQ, per-serving math, the 100-to-1 ratio, what a potency panel omits.
Written by: Author pendingReviewed by: Reviewer pendingUpdated:
Who issued the report, and are they accredited?
The header names the laboratory, its accreditation and the client who paid for the test. The reports linked from this store's lab-results pages name PharmLabs San Diego, accreditation "ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Acc. 85368," a DEA registration number, and the client Flame USA Inc (NarcoBrands COAs).
ISO/IEC 17025 is the international standard for the competence of testing laboratories; accreditation to it means an independent body has audited the laboratory's methods, equipment, staff and records for the tests in its scope (ISO). The accreditation number lets anyone look the laboratory up with the accrediting body. A report with no laboratory name, no accreditation number or no client is not a report; it is a graphic.
The client line matters as much as the laboratory line. The client is who submitted the sample and who the report is addressed to. When a brand's reports name a different company as client, the two are commercially linked, and the question of who manufactured the product and who stands behind its label is one to put to the supplier.
What is a sample ID, and is it a lot number?
A sample ID is the laboratory's own identifier for the physical specimen it received; on the reports here it is "SD260424-137" and the like, with a received date and a reported date of 2026-04-24 (NarcoBrands COAs). A lot number is the manufacturer's identifier for a production batch, printed on the package. They are different numbers from different parties.
The reports here carry no product lot number. That means the report describes the sample the laboratory tested on that date; it does not, on its own, prove that the package in a customer's hand came from the same batch. The way sellers close that gap is a QR code or lot number on the package that resolves to the report for that lot; one seller describes exactly that lookup (Super Speciosa lab lookup). This store's lab-results pages say plainly when a report carries no lot number, and a lot-specific report is on the owner's supplier list.
What is in the alkaloid table?
The potency table lists each analyte the method quantified with its result in several units. For mitragynine on report SD260424-137 the row reads 8.28 percent, 82.81 mg per gram, 57.14 mg per serving and 171.42 mg per unit, with a serving of 0.69 g and three servings per 2.07 g unit (NarcoBrands COAs).
The units are the same number expressed four ways. Percent and mg per gram describe concentration (8.28 percent is 82.8 mg per gram). Mg per serving is concentration times the mass of one serving (82.81 x 0.69 = 57.1). Mg per unit is mg per serving times the number of servings (57.14 x 3 = 171.4). A reader can check the laboratory's arithmetic from any one row, and a report whose rows do not multiply out is a report to question.
Speciociliatine appears on the same reports at about 1 mg per tablet. Paynantheine and speciogynine do not, because the method run here did not quantify them; a five-alkaloid panel exists at other laboratories (Super Speciosa lab lookup).
What do LOD and LOQ mean?
LOD is the limit of detection, the lowest concentration at which the method can tell the compound is present. LOQ is the limit of quantitation, the lowest concentration at which the laboratory has validated that its number is accurate and repeatable. The mitragynine method on the reports here has an LOD of 0.018 ppm and an LOQ of 0.054 ppm (NarcoBrands COAs).
A result reported as "not detected" (ND) means below the LOD for that analyte, and a result reported as "less than LOQ" means seen but not quantifiable. Neither means zero. The LOQ therefore defines what a not-detected result is worth: ND at an LOQ of 0.025 ppm is a far stronger statement than ND at an LOQ of 100 ppm. This store prints the 7-hydroxymitragynine result together with its LOQ for that reason, and never prints "zero."
Maryland's regulator rejects ND outright for label purposes: the label must carry "affirmative amounts of BOTH mitragynine and 7-OH," and ranges or less-than signs are noncompliant (Maryland ATCC notice). That is why Maryland is excluded from this store's state table until a report returns a number.
How is the 100-to-1 ratio read off a report?
The pending federal threshold has two prongs: 7-OH and mitragynine pseudoindoxyl above 1 mg per gram (solids) or 1 mg per milliliter (liquids), or a mass of mitragynine divided by the mass of those compounds that "is less than 100" (91 FR 65370). Both prongs are computed from the alkaloid table.
For a report showing 82.81 mg/g mitragynine and 7-OH not detected at an LOQ of 0.025 ppm, the first prong is met by a wide margin (0.000025 mg/g against a 1 mg/g line) and the ratio prong cannot even be computed because the denominator is below the detection floor. A report showing 7-OH at, say, 2 mg/g with mitragynine at 80 mg/g fails the first prong (2 is greater than 1) and the second (80 divided by 2 is 40, less than 100). The ratio is why a laboratory must report 7-OH with a real limit of quantitation: a method that cannot see 7-OH below 1 mg/g cannot clear the line.
What does a potency-only report leave out?
The reports here are alkaloid panels. They carry no heavy-metal, microbial, pesticide or residual-solvent results. Sellers that publish full programs test a microbial panel and heavy metals alongside alkaloids (Super Speciosa lab lookup), and lead is the documented concern: a 2020 Proposition 65 notice alleged lead exposure from kratom powder sold as teas and capsules (California AG notice 2020-03325).
A screen also cannot see what it was not asked for. A kratom alkaloid method quantifies the alkaloids in its scope; it says nothing about compounds outside that scope. The same limitation is documented for mushroom edibles, where a hospital laboratory could not confirm several compounds because they were not in its reference library (CDC MMWR 73(28)). For kratom, that means a report should be read for whether the method included 7-OH, pseudoindoxyl and the MGM compounds by name; a 2026 analysis reported trace mitragynine pseudoindoxyl in 33 of 35 kratom products tested, including leaf products (Kratom Science).
What should a complete report for a kratom product include?
Laboratory name and ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation number; client; sample ID, received and reported dates; the product
lot number; serving mass and servings per unit; mitragynine, 7-OH, pseudoindoxyl and the MGM compounds each with LOD
and LOQ; the other leaf alkaloids; heavy metals; microbials; and, for extracts, residual solvents. The owner's list of
what is still missing for each product here is in docs/TODO-MIKE.md, and the
lab testing policy says what a product page shows while a report is pending.
General information, not personalized guidance.
Sources
- NarcoBrands COAs page (PharmLabs San Diego reports) NarcoBrands (accessed 2026-10-20)
- ISO/IEC 17025, Testing and calibration laboratories International Organization for Standardization (accessed 2026-10-20)
- 91 FR 65370, notice of intent (thresholds) Federal Register via GovInfo (accessed 2026-10-20)
- Maryland ATCC retailer notice: Know the rules, kratom Maryland Alcohol, Tobacco, and Cannabis Commission (accessed 2026-10-20)
- Super Speciosa lab lookup (panels tested) Super Speciosa (vendor page, documents what sellers publish) (accessed 2026-10-20)
- California Attorney General Proposition 65 60-day notice 2020-03325 (lead in kratom) California Office of the Attorney General (accessed 2026-10-20)
- DEA issues order to ban mitragynine pseudoindoxyl, MGM-15 and MGM-16 (trace pseudoindoxyl in 33 of 35 products) Kratom Science (secondary) (accessed 2026-10-20)
- Notices of Inquiry: Mushroom gummies tested in Virginia, CDC MMWR 73(28) (an example of a screen that cannot see what it was not asked for) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (accessed 2026-10-20)
Related questions
What is on a kratom lab report?
The laboratory's name and ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, the client, a sample ID and dates, the serving mass, and an alkaloid table giving each analyte in percent, mg per gram, mg...
What does not detected mean for 7-OH?
Below the method's detection floor, not zero. The reports linked here state 7-hydroxymitragynine as not detected with a limit of quantitation of 0.025 ppm, which is 0.000025 mg...
Why does the lab report show no lot number?
Because the brand submitted a sample, not a production lot. The three reports linked here carry a laboratory sample ID (SD260424-137 to -139), a client name and a date of...
What does ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation mean?
That an independent accreditation body has audited the laboratory's competence, methods, equipment, staff and records for the tests in its scope, against the international...
What is a contaminant panel and why does it matter?
Tests for things that should not be in the product: heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury), microbes, and for extracts residual solvents. Lead is the documented concern...