“Accredited amino acid analysis laboratory” — what accreditation means, what we are, and when it matters

What “accredited” actually means

Accreditation is not a lab saying it follows a standard. It is a third party checking — on site, against evidence — that it does.

• The standard is ISO/IEC 17025, the international requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories: validated methods, metrological traceability to reference standards, trained and authorised analysts, controlled records and audit trails, and a quality system that handles deviations and complaints in the open.
• The checker is an accreditation body — in the US, bodies such as A2LA, PJLA and IAS, signatories to the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement, which is why an accredited result is accepted across borders without re-testing.
• Accreditation is scoped, not blanket. A lab is accredited for specific methods on specific sample types listed on its scope of accreditation. A lab accredited for metals in water is not thereby accredited for amino acids in a supplement powder. The scope document — not the logo on the homepage — is the claim.
• It is maintained, not earned once. Accredited labs face surveillance assessments and proficiency testing; a scope can shrink or lapse.

Two nearby terms are not the same thing. ISO 9001 certifies a management system; it says nothing about whether a lab's measurements are competent — no one should hire a testing lab on 9001 alone. And “17025-aligned” or “working to 17025 principles” (which is what we say about ourselves, below) means a lab is building its documents and habits in that direction without having been assessed. It is a statement about direction, not a credential.

What we are, precisely

• Not accredited — no ISO/IEC 17025, GLP or GMP status, and no application outcome we can point you to. Anyone from OpenChemWorks who implies otherwise is wrong; tell us and we will correct it.
• Building in the 17025 direction. Our procedures, traceability chain, audit trail and raw-data conventions are written to be ISO/IEC 17025-aligned — preparation for a future accreditation, explicitly not accreditation itself. Our raw HPLC data is retained for 7 years, traceability applies to reportable runs, and every customer report is personally reviewed and released by the lab's owner before it goes out.
• Still validating. Our AQC amino acid method (derivatization, HPLC) is in development and validation — it is not yet a validated method, and until validation completes we make no validation statements to customers. Every run is calibrated against a certified reference standard, with a check standard in the run.
• What a report from us is: a named-method result — per-analyte numbers, the chromatogram, calibration against reference standards — that you can inspect and argue with. What it is not: a compliance certificate, and it makes no accreditation claim.

When accreditation genuinely matters — use an accredited lab

Send the work to a lab whose scope covers your method and matrix when:

1. The result goes to a regulator — a submission, dossier or filing that will cite the data.
2. The result releases product — batch release or a compliance COA that your quality system, a retailer programme or a contract manufacturer requires to come from an accredited lab.
3. A contract says so — enterprise QA agreements and retailer supplier-verification programmes frequently name ISO/IEC 17025 by standard and scope. If your customer's contract names it, a non-accredited result will be rejected no matter how good the chromatography is.
4. The result may be disputed — litigation, a contested label claim, an export market. Accreditation is the evidence chain a third party has already agreed to trust.

For amino acid work in these categories, ask any candidate lab — including the big names — for its certificate and its scope, and check the scope lists amino acid analysis in a matrix like yours. If the scope doesn't list it, you don't have accredited amino acid results, whatever the sales page says.

When a non-accredited result can be the right tool

Accreditation certifies a system; it does not make an individual chromatogram true, and its absence does not make one false. For internal decisions, a transparent non-accredited result is often the proportionate tool:

• Label-claim verification for your own QA — does this lot actually deliver the amino acids on the panel, before you commit to a print run or a launch?
• Formulation and R&D screening — comparing blends, checking a supplier's powder against its spec, catching cheap filler amino acids used to inflate a protein number.
• Deciding whether a bigger question exists — a screening result tells you whether a lot, a supplier or a claim needs the full accredited treatment at all.

The conditions are honesty in both directions: the lab states plainly what it is and is not (this page), shows its method and its chromatograms rather than a bare number, and you do not use the report for a purpose it disclaims — regulatory submission or product release.

Five questions to ask any lab (including us)

1. “Are you accredited, by which body, and can I see the scope?”
Us: no; no body; no scope to show.

2. “Is this specific method, on my sample type, inside that scope?”
Us: the question doesn't apply until there is a scope; our AQC amino acid panel is in validation.

3. “What will the report show?”
Us: per-analyte results, the chromatogram, the named method, calibration against a certified reference standard — and a limitations line stating it is not a compliance certificate.

4. “What happens if a result looks wrong?”
Us: unexpected results are re-run before reporting; ask us for the deviation trail on your run.

5. “Who reviews and releases my report?”
Us: the lab's owner, personally, on every report.

Honest limits of this post

• This post describes accreditation and our status as of 2026-10-12. Our status will change only when an assessment has actually happened — when it does, this page will be updated with the body and the scope, and not before.
• Nothing here is a claim that non-accredited testing is “just as good.” For the uses in the accredited list above, it is not a substitute at any price.
• If your use case sits on the boundary — an internal check today that a customer may later ask to see — assume it will be asked for, and start with the accredited lab.

References

1. ISO/IEC 17025 — General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories (the standard described on this page).
2. OpenChemWorks — Pricing — Published service and pricing copy (2026).

OpenChemWorks Laboratory · Reviewed by the laboratory director, PhD chemist · Published October 18, 2026