Aged garlic capsules usually carry 600 mg of extract per capsule, and that figure is the only one most labels show you. Identity, potency, heavy metals and microbial load are four separate questions, and one certificate of analysis rarely covers all of them. Buyers stop at the obvious number and move on.
Testing is where the arithmetic gets honest.
Four questions one panel rarely covers
A certificate of analysis is a laboratory document tied to a specific batch number, and the useful ones break results into distinct panels rather than a single pass or fail line. Identity testing confirms the material is actually Allium sativum extract and not a cheaper bulb powder blended to mimic the taste. Potency, expressed as S-allyl cysteine or SAC, is the marker most aged garlic capsules are standardised against, often somewhere between 1.2 mg and 2.4 mg per 600 mg dose. Heavy metals, typically lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury, get their own results in parts per million. Microbial testing covers total aerobic count, yeast and mould, and the specific organisms that matter for a botanical held in warm storage for two years.
Each of those four can pass while a fifth is quietly absent. You might see a potency result with no metals data at all, and that gap isn't proof of contamination, it's simply proof that nobody looked, or that the supplier chose not to share that page.
Is testing legally required
In most jurisdictions, no single law compels a finished dietary supplement brand to publish a full certificate of analysis. The legal floor usually sits at current good manufacturing practice: the manufacturer must verify identity and strength of incoming components and keep records, but those records live behind the plant door. What reaches you is a label, not a lab report. Some brands test every batch, some test once at qualification, and some buy raw material with a supplier certificate and never re-verify it after encapsulation.
That distinction is the reason two tubs on the same shelf can look identical while carrying very different documentation. Marcus, standing in a pharmacy aisle with a 250-capsule bottle in each hand, found both priced at roughly 30 pounds, both claiming 600 mg per capsule, and both claiming SAC standardisation. Neither bottle listed a batch lot on the outside. Only the brand whose site he checked on his phone published a lot-specific certificate with metals and microbial results attached. The other showed a generic spec sheet with no numbers at all. Same words on the front, different evidence behind them.
What to ask about garlic before you buy
The productive questions are narrow. Ask for the certificate matching the lot code on your specific bottle, not a representative sample from a year ago. Ask which marker defines potency and what the acceptance range is, because standardised without a figure is marketing. Ask whether heavy metals are reported per batch or per supplier lot. Ask for the assay method, since HPLC and gravimetric methods don't produce interchangeable numbers. A brand that answers all four in writing is unusually transparent, and a brand that answers none of them is telling you something too, just less flatteringly.
One limitation worth naming plainly: no certificate, however thorough, confirms that a finished capsule does anything in a human body. Laboratory testing speaks to what's in the product and how much, never to outcomes. And because contract labs use different detection limits, two technically valid certificates for similar products can be genuinely hard to compare, which means a lower reported lead figure sometimes reflects a more sensitive instrument rather than a cleaner ingredient.
If you want the shortest possible version, keep three numbers in your head before you buy any aged garlic capsules: the SAC figure per dose, the heavy metals results with a batch code, and the date the panel was run. If one of those is missing, you don't have the full picture, you have a label.
Frequently asked questions
What does a certificate of analysis cover? A certificate of analysis covers a defined set of laboratory results for one specific batch, most often identity, potency, heavy metals and microbial counts, and it's only as meaningful as the tests the lab was asked to run.
Is testing legally required? Most jurisdictions require manufacturers to verify identity and strength under good manufacturing practice, yet they don't require that documentation to be published to you, so testing is usually mandatory internally and optional publicly.
What should I ask a brand? Ask for the certificate matching your bottle's lot code, the potency marker and its range, whether heavy metals are run per batch, and which assay method was used, since a brand that can't supply those four answers is asking you to trust its marketing instead.
Frequently asked questions
What does a certificate of analysis cover?Show answerHide answer
Whatever assays were ordered. Ask which were run before assuming anything.
Is testing legally required?Show answerHide answer
Verification is voluntary in most of the market, which is why brands differ so much.
What should I ask a brand?Show answerHide answer
Which batch was tested, by which lab, and for which four things.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
