A certificate of analysis for a spice lot will usually state one thing: the residue of one pesticide, found not to be present. It is technically correct, and it is close to worthless, because the importing market does not regulate one pesticide.
Why single-analyte certificates fail
Most regulatory frameworks work on a list of restricted substances, not a single substance. The EU works on a multi-year list. The US works through tolerance levels established case by case. GCC authorities increasingly follow the importing country’s list rather than their own.
A certificate naming one analyte tells you nothing about the other 300-odd compounds on the list. It is a photograph of one window in a building you have not inspected.
What a multi-class panel actually is
A multi-class panel runs a single extraction against a broad analyte set, and reports everything found above the detection limit. Three things matter:
- The panel must be multi-class. Organochlorines, organophosphates, pyrethroids, carbamates, triazines, benzamides. A panel covering two of six classes is not a panel.
- The detection limit must be stated. A method with a detection limit above the regulatory limit cannot support a compliant claim, however clean the result looks.
- The laboratory must be accredited for the specific test. ISO/IEC 17025 scope is granted per test, not per laboratory. Ask for the scope covering the exact analyte.
What we run on every spice lot
For every spice consignment we ship, the pre-shipment sample goes to an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited third-party laboratory for:
- A multi-class pesticide screen across six classes
- Multi-class residues on high-risk botanicals
- Salmonella, E. coli, yeast and mould
- Moisture, ash and extractive value
Where a buyer’s destination market has a stricter limit than the default, we test to that limit. This is arranged before the sample is submitted, not after the report arrives.
The commercial consequence
The real cost of a residue rejection is rarely the lot. It is the demurrage, the re-inspection, the buyer’s lost shelf space and the relationship. A multi-class panel is a small percentage of shipment value and it removes the largest single category of avoidable claim.
A closing note
If your current supplier cannot produce a multi-class panel for your spice lots, the reason is rarely that the product is dirty. It is usually that nobody specified it, and nobody asked. Specify it once, in the purchase order, and it becomes ordinary.
We are happy to share the exact panel specification we use, and the template clause that puts it into the purchase order. Ask your account manager.
Applying this to an order
If the point in this briefing affects a shipment you are planning, send the product, quantity and destination port. We will tell you how it applies to that order.