Quality
Quality & Testing
What is tested, how specifications are agreed, and which documents each batch carries.
- Inspected before shipment
- Heavy metals, microbiology, moisture, ash
- Certification held
- ISO 22000
- Batch documents
- On request, once the batch is defined
Quality philosophy
What can be shown about a batch
Quality here is not a claim about the company. It is what can be shown about one product, one specification and one batch.
Three kinds of information are kept apart. Product facts — the CAS number, the chemical formula, assay or purity, elemental mineral content and appearance — describe the material itself. Industry knowledge explains how a mineral form is usually used and what to consider in a formulation. Regulatory information is confirmed per market, product form and application, never as one general statement.
The working rule is the same in every project: material is supplied against an agreed specification, and the documents that follow it say which product and which batch they describe.
Inspection
What is inspected before shipment
Material is inspected before it ships. Heavy metals, microbiology, moisture and ash are among the parameters checked in that scope.
Which of those parameters apply to a batch, and the limit each one has to meet, follow from the specification agreed for the product. They are confirmed for the product and the order, not published as one rule that covers the whole catalogue.
The test methods, instruments and acceptance limits behind a specification are not published generically on this site. They are confirmed for a product and provided with the product data when you ask for them.
The test scope applied to a batch, and who gives the final release, are confirmed for the product and the order. We do not state that every batch is tested on every line of a specification.
Specification
How a specification is agreed
A specification is not read off a product name. It is agreed item by item, for the product, the grade and the application in front of us.
Identity
- The exact product and chemical name;
- CAS number and chemical formula;
- The form the material takes: a salt, a chelate, a complex or a mixture;
- Where it applies, the ligand and the mineral-to-ligand ratio.
Measured parameters
- Mineral content, and assay or purity;
- Moisture, heavy metals and microbiology;
- Appearance and colour, solubility, particle size and pH.
A specification you send us is evaluated technically first. Where it can be met, the custom specification is quoted, sampled and produced. Where it cannot, the closest standard specification is recommended and the differences between the two are stated.
Send the specification you are working to. It is checked item by item, and the answer says either that it can be met or which points differ from the closest standard specification.
Certificate of analysis
What a COA reports, and what it cannot prove
A COA reports the results obtained for the product or the batch it names, and is read against the agreed specification.
Depending on the product, a COA may report assay, mineral content, appearance, moisture, heavy metals and microbiology, with the method behind each result.
A representative COA describes the product and can be shared at the first enquiry. A batch COA belongs to the batch it names and follows once that batch is defined.
A COA reports results against a specification. On its own it does not prove molecular structure or a true chelated state, and it does not replace the specification or the technical data sheet.
Handling and stability
Chelates can pick up moisture and cake
It is a property of the material rather than a defect, so it belongs in the conversation before the packaging is fixed.
How a mineral form behaves in the pack depends on the form itself and on the ligand, so storage and handling are confirmed for the product instead of being assumed from the group it sits in.
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Moisture
A chelate can take up moisture from the air and cake in the pack, so handling and packaging are discussed before they are fixed.
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Storage conditions
Confirmed per product, and published on the product page where the product record carries them.
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Stability
Stability testing and a stability report are provided per project.
Batch consistency
Sample, bulk and later batches
Two questions come back in almost every project: is the bulk the same as the sample, and is this batch the same as the last one.
The reference for both is the specification agreed for the product and the sample that was approved against it. Material ships when it is within that specification.
Batch documentation is provided once the product, the specification and the batch are defined: a batch COA, raw test data, the other batch documents, and a stability report where the project requires one.
Independent testing
Where a third party has to test
An audit, a customer or a market can require results from a laboratory that is not ours. That requirement is handled per project.
Which tests are sent out, which laboratory performs them, and how its report is provided alongside the shipment documents are agreed for the project.
Tell us which tests your audit or your market asks for, and for which product and batch. We confirm what can be arranged for that project and provide the report with the documents that belong to it.
Documentation
Which document answers which question
Standard documents can be shared at the first enquiry. Batch-level and project documents follow once the product, the specification and the batch are defined.
- Standard specification On Request Request
- Representative COA On Request Request
- TDS (technical data sheet) On Request Request
- SDS (safety data sheet) On Request Request
- Existing public certificates On Request Request
- Batch COA, once the batch is defined On Request Request
- Stability report, where the project requires one On Request Request
- Raw test data, once the project and batch are defined On Request Request
- Other batch or sensitive documents On Request Request
ISO 22000 is held, and the certificate is provided with the scope it names on request. Other certificates depend on the product, the site and the project, are provided only where they are actually held, and are confirmed case by case. A management-system certificate covers the scope it was issued for: it is not product approval, market access or a statement of global compliance.
Documents and samples
Ask for the documents behind a product
Send the product, the specification and the market you are working to, and we reply with the documents that apply to that combination.
Standard documents are shared at the first enquiry; batch documents follow once the product and the batch are defined.