How to read a kratom lab report
Updated October 2026
A kratom lab report (certificate of analysis, or COA) describes one batch. Check that its batch number matches your package, then read five things: the lab, the test date, mitragynine, 7-OH, and the contaminant results. We read 103 reports from 9 of the 17 brands we list.
21+ only. Kratom is not approved by the FDA for any medical use, and nothing here is medical advice.
The five lines that matter
Batch or lot number: a report only describes the batch it names. A report without a batch number can't be matched to a package.
Lab and test date: an independent lab name and a recent date. On our brand reviews, reports older than 12 months show as "No current lab report found".
Mitragynine: the main alkaloid, usually given as a percentage by weight for leaf products, or in mg per unit for extracts, shots and gummies.
7-OH (7-hydroxymitragynine): a minor alkaloid in natural leaf. "<LOQ" means below the lab's limit of quantitation — present at most in trace amounts it can't measure precisely.
Contaminants: heavy metals (arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury) and microbials (such as E. coli, Salmonella, yeast and mold), each marked pass or fail against the lab's limits.
A real report, line by line
This is how Super Speciosa publishes one batch report, as we read it on Oct 7, 2026.
| Line | On the report |
|---|---|
| Product | White Maeng Da 20g Powder |
| Batch | 0003746 |
| Lab | Cora Science, LLC |
| Tested | Aug 19, 2026 |
| Mitragynine | 1.37% |
| 7-OH | <LOQ |
| Heavy metals | pass |
| Microbials | pass |
What the numbers usually look like
Across 49 leaf powder and capsule reports we read, mitragynine ranged from 0.8585% to 1.88% by weight (median 1.37%).
Mitragynine in 16 commercial kratom plant products ranged from 2.76 to 20.05 mg per gram of dried plant material (about 0.28% to 2.0%) (Fowble 2019).
Leaf products held 3.35–11.33 mg/g mitragynine; the one concentrated extract held 59.76 mg/g. None had detectable 7-OH, opioids or benzodiazepines (Prozialeck 2020).
30 of the 103 reports that list 7-OH show it below the lab's limit of quantitation.
Contaminants
Seven of eight products had measurable nickel, lead and chromium; all but two had microbes; none had Salmonella (Prozialeck 2020).
Of the reports we read, 1 shows a failing heavy-metal or microbial result (Super Speciosa, Super Red Kratom Capsules). We show these as published on each brand's review.
How labs measure it
AOAC's expert panel adopted the method for mitragynine and 7-OH as First Action Official Method 2017.14 (AOAC 2017.14).
Repeatability RSD was 0.51–0.95% and recoveries 93.6–98.9% across matrices (AOAC 2017.14).
Common questions
What is a kratom COA?
A certificate of analysis: a lab's report on one batch, listing its alkaloids (mitragynine, 7-OH) and contaminant tests (heavy metals, microbials), with the lab's name and test date.
What does <LOQ mean on a kratom lab report?
Below the limit of quantitation: the lab couldn't measure the compound precisely at that low level. For 7-OH in leaf products it usually means trace amounts at most.
Why does the batch number matter?
A report describes only the batch it names. Match the batch or lot number on your package to the report; a report for another batch says nothing about yours.
How much mitragynine is normal in kratom powder?
In the 49 leaf reports we read, mitragynine ran from 0.8585% to 1.88% by weight, median 1.37%.
Sources
- Fowble KL, Musah RA. A validated method for the quantification of mitragynine in sixteen commercially available Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) products. Forensic Sci Int. 2019;299:195-202.
- Prozialeck WC, Edwards JR, Lamar PC, Plotkin BJ, Sigar IM, Grundmann O, Veltri CA. Evaluation of the Mitragynine Content, Levels of Toxic Metals and the Presence of Microbes in Kratom Products Purchased in the Western Suburbs of Chicago. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(15):5512.
- Mudge EM, Brown PN. Determination of Alkaloids in Mitragyna speciosa (Kratom) Raw Materials and Dietary Supplements by HPLC-UV: Single-Laboratory Validation, First Action 2017.14. J AOAC Int. 2018;101(4):964-965.
- Super Speciosa — batch report 0003746