What Does Third Party Tested Mean on a Supplement?

Third party tested at a glance

What does third party tested mean?

A third party is someone outside the company that makes the product. So "third party tested" means the brand says an outside lab looked at it.

The phrase does not say who did the testing, what they tested for, or which batch they tested. A batch (or lot) is one production run of a product.

That gap matters because supplements are not checked by the government before sale. Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), the FDA "does not have the authority to approve dietary supplements before they are marketed".

Who checks a supplement before it is sold?

The company does. The FDA says firms are responsible for making sure their supplements are not adulterated, meaning spoiled or mixed with something that should not be there.

The FDA "does not test dietary supplements before they are sold to consumers". It also says that "by law, FDA does not approve dietary supplements or their labeling".

So a "tested" claim on the front of a product generally reaches the shelf without an FDA review. A named certification program is how an outside group puts its own name behind a product.

Is "banned substance tested" the same as certified?

No, not on its own. "Banned substance tested" printed on a label is the brand's own claim.

It counts as a certification only when a named program runs the test and lists the product. NSF Certified for Sport, Informed Sport and BSCG Certified Drug Free all publish the products and lots they certify.

The NCAA puts it plainly. There are no NCAA approved supplements, and supplements "may be contaminated with banned substances not listed on the label". It says third party tested products "may be options", but "complete elimination of risk is impossible".

Which seals check quality, and which check for banned substances?

Seals answer two different questions. A quality seal asks: is what is on the label actually in the product? A banned substance program asks: does it contain something banned in sport?

The US Department of Defense's Operation Supplement Safety lists four well vetted programs. It says three test for substances banned in sport, and "the other program does not test for substances banned in sport". Its comparison table marks USP Verified as a program that does not test for substances banned in sport.

A few words from the table:

• Contaminants are unwanted things in a product, like heavy metals or germs.
• Good manufacturing practices (GMP) are the rules for how a product is made.
• WADA is the World Anti-Doping Agency. Its Prohibited List names what is banned in Olympic and international sport.

Two rows deserve a closer look. Informed Sport tests every batch before release, while Informed Choice tests at least twelve lots a year at random. With Informed Choice, the batch in your hand may never have been tested.

The NSF rows also differ. Certified for Sport products must also be certified to a contents standard like NSF/ANSI 173. The sport mark then adds testing of production lots for 290 banned substances.

Which kind of seal do you need?

It depends on whether you are drug tested.

• If you are drug tested, look for a banned substance program: NSF Certified for Sport, Informed Sport or BSCG Certified Drug Free. Then check your lot.
• If you are not drug tested, a quality seal like USP Verified or NSF Contents Certified tells you the label matches the contents. It does not tell you about banned substances.
• For everyone, a seal is not a safety review. Operation Supplement Safety says third party certification "does not mean the product has been evaluated for safety".

Our comparison of NSF vs Informed Sport vs BSCG goes deeper into how the sport programs differ.

How do you check that a seal is real?

Search the program's own database. The seal on the product is a claim. The product listed on the program's site is the proof.

The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) warns that third party logos "are being misused". It found NSF Certified for Sport logos on products that were not part of a certified batch. So "you can't rely only on the presence of third-party certification logos on the label".

Here is how to check each program:

• NSF Certified for Sport: search nsfsport.com "by name, keyword or lot number". Tested lots are listed there and in NSF's app. Our guide to NSF Certified for Sport walks through it.
• Informed Sport: INFORMED recommends "verifying a product's batch number by performing a quick search" on its site. Our guide to Informed Sport explains the batch check.
• Informed Choice: search its own site by brand, product name or batch number.
• BSCG Certified Drug Free: search BSCG's database. BSCG says, "If a lot is not listed it has not been tested". Our guide to BSCG certification explains each BSCG seal.
• USP Verified: USP points shoppers to Quality-Supplements.org to find verified products.
• NSF Contents Certified: search NSF's listing of certified dietary supplements.

If a label says "third party tested" and names no program, there is nothing to look up. Ask the brand which program tested it. Then search that program's database yourself.

Checklist before you trust a label claim

1. Scan it in Varsity Stack first. The app checks the barcode or label against our certification database.
2. Find the program's name. "Tested" with no program named is a claim you cannot check.
3. Match the seal to your need. A quality seal is not a banned substance test.
4. Look up the exact product and lot on the program's own site. A brand can certify one product and not another.
5. Keep a record. Add the product to your stack in Varsity Stack, so you and your staff know what you take. Keep a photo of the lot number too.
6. Ask your athletics staff before you use it, if you have them.

Even a certified product lowers your risk without removing it. USADA says NSF Certified for Sport "significantly reduces, but does not necessarily eliminate" the chance of a positive test. Our guide on whether supplements can make you fail a drug test explains how that happens.

Check a supplement's certification with Varsity Stack

The easiest way to check a label claim is the free Varsity Stack app. Scan the barcode or take a photo of the label to check it against our certification database. Then add it to your stack so you and your staff know what you take.

Download the App

For coaches, sports dietitians and athletic trainers: the team dashboard shows every athlete's stack and whether each product is certified, so staff can review what athletes take.

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Varsity Stack does not laboratory test supplements, and certification lowers risk without removing it.