A certificate of analysis, or COA, is the one document that tells you whether a shilajit product is safe and how much active compound it really contains. No home test can do that. This guide walks through a COA line by line, so you can read one yourself and tell a meaningful certificate from a decorative PDF.
Why the certificate matters more than the label
Raw shilajit concentrates whatever is in its host rock, and the label on the jar is not independently checked before sale. That makes the certificate the difference between a product you can trust and one you are guessing about.
Raw or native shilajit routinely carries lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury, and a 2012 review concluded it should not be consumed unpurified because of the risk from heavy metal ions, mycotoxins, and free radicals. [Carrasco-Gallardo 2012] Strong evidence
In a 2025 analysis, every commercial shilajit supplement tested provided no information on its chemical composition or heavy-metal content on the packaging. [Kamgar 2025, BMC Chemistry] Strong evidence
The parts of a real COA
A meaningful shilajit COA shows a batch or lot number matching the jar, ICP-MS heavy-metal results for lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury and ideally thallium with detection limits, a fulvic-acid percentage by a named method, a test date, and an ISO 17025 accredited lab. [BSCG safety and testing guide] Strong evidence
Work through the certificate in this order. If any of the first three items is missing, the document is not doing its job.
| Line on the COA | What to check |
|---|---|
| Batch or lot number | It must match the number printed on your jar. A generic certificate for a different batch tells you nothing about what you bought. |
| Heavy-metal panel | Numeric results for lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury, ideally thallium too, each with a detection limit, run by ICP-MS. |
| Accredited lab and date | A named third-party lab, ideally ISO 17025 accredited, with a recent test date, not the brand’s own kitchen. |
| Fulvic-acid percentage | A stated percentage by a named method, such as ISO 19822, rather than the phrase contains fulvic acid. |
| Authenticity check | An FTIR result is a plus, because it helps confirm real shilajit against synthetic or humic look-alikes. |
Reading the heavy-metal panel
This is the safety section. You want to see each metal listed with an actual number and a detection limit, tested by ICP-MS, which is the standard method for trace metals. A blank or a vague safe is not a result. The reason thallium is worth looking for is specific.
The 2025 analysis found thallium in commercial shilajit supplements up to about 0.5 micrograms per gram, in some cases higher than in the crude raw material, and noted that chronic thallium exposure risks damage to the liver, kidneys, and testicles as well as hair loss. [Kamgar 2025, BMC Chemistry] Strong evidence
Independent testing of 8 popular US shilajit products in September 2024 found lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury below levels of concern at one dose per day, showing that contamination is not universal and reputable products can be clean. [ConsumerLab 2024] Moderate evidence
The takeaway is balanced rather than alarmist. Contamination is a real and documented risk, which is why the panel matters, but a well-run brand can produce clean numbers. The certificate is how you tell the two apart.
Reading the fulvic-acid line
Fulvic acid is the marker most often quoted for potency, and it is also the number most often abused. A percentage means something. The bare phrase contains fulvic acid does not.
Independent testing found fulvic-acid content per serving varied by roughly 32,000 percent across shilajit products, from about 6.9 milligrams to 2,206 milligrams, so a fulvic-acid claim is meaningless without a percentage and a stated test method. [ConsumerLab 2024, via Examine] Strong evidence
The standardised ingredient PrimaVie is water-purified shilajit standardised to at least 60.3 percent fulvic-acid equivalents, which is why a standardised extract with a COA can be easier to verify than an unlabelled resin. [Examine, Natreon technical docs] Strong evidence
The foundational purification patent sets purified shilajit at at least 60 percent fulvic acid and at least 0.3 percent oxygenated dibenzo-alpha-pyrones, the compounds that distinguish real standardised shilajit from a plain fulvic extract. [Ghosal, US Patent 6,869,612 B2, 2005] Strong evidence
Red flags on a certificate
- No lot number, or a lot number that does not match your jar.
- A heavy-metal panel with no numbers, no detection limits, or the word safe instead of results.
- No named lab, or testing done in-house rather than by an accredited third party.
- An old test date, or no date at all.
- A fulvic-acid claim with no percentage and no method.
If a seller cannot send a certificate that clears those hurdles, treat the absence as the answer. To see how this plays out across real products, read our brand reviews, check the wider evidence on shilajit, or start with the common questions in our FAQ.
References
- Kamgar et al. Quantifying thallium in shilajit and its supplements. BMC Chemistry. 2025. source
- Carrasco-Gallardo et al. Shilajit, a natural phytocomplex. Int J Alzheimers Dis. 2012. source
- BSCG. Shilajit supplement safety, testing, and compliance guide. source
- ConsumerLab. Shilajit supplements found to contain high amounts of fulvic acid. 2024. source
- Examine. Shilajit overview. source
- Ghosal S. US Patent 6,869,612 B2, purified shilajit composition. 2005. source
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