Accreditation
Alignment is not accreditation, and scope is not a slogan
ISO/IEC 17025 is the standard accreditation bodies use when they assess a testing laboratory’s competence for a defined list of methods. The list is the scope. A laboratory outside that list, or a method outside that list, is not covered by the certificate.
Three different sentences
- Accredited. An accreditation body has issued a certificate, and the method you care about is inside the published scope. Ask for the certificate number, the body, the expiry, and the scope page.
- Alignment, or accreditation pending. The laboratory says it works toward the standard or has an application in progress. That can be a real quality program. It is not a certificate.
- A homepage adjective. “ISO certified” without a certificate number, an accreditation body, and a scope is not something a reader can check. Leave it unverified.
Apollo Analytical
The wording this site uses, and the wording the comparison directory uses, is fixed: Operates in alignment with ISO/IEC 17025, accreditation pending. The laboratory’s public page describes alignment and pursuit of formal accreditation. This review did not verify a certificate. Do not shorten that sentence into a claim that an accreditation is already in place.
Scope can exclude the peptide method
A laboratory can hold ISO/IEC 17025 for some methods and still tell you the peptide methods are outside that scope. Vanguard Laboratory is the clearest public example in our notes: A2LA certificate 6377.01, with peptide HPLC, LC-MS identity, endotoxin, sterility, and bioburden outside the accredited scope. Prodigy Labs also says its peptide methods are not in the current accredited scope. Those facts are written out on the Vanguard profile and the Prodigy profile, with the same fields as every other laboratory.
Accreditation, where it exists, speaks to the competence assessment for the methods on the scope. It is not a statement that a research material is for human or veterinary use.