A well-presented arjuna certificate of analysis can be entirely complete, entirely accurate, and still leave the most important question unanswered. This is a walk through the document line by line — what each entry establishes, what it does not, and which lines are worth insisting on.
Start With What Is Missing
Most arjuna certificates carry a competent set of lines: appearance, tannins, loss on drying, ash, heavy metals, microbiology. Everything looks correct.
What is usually absent is any line that establishes identity beyond a declaration. The species is stated because the supplier wrote it, not because anything on the document tested it.
A declaration is an assertion. A marker profile is a result. On arjuna the difference matters, because the assay everyone runs — tannins — is satisfied by several barks that are not arjuna.
Identity Lines
| Line | What it establishes |
|---|---|
| Botanical source (binomial) | What the supplier says it is |
| Identification by TLC | Consistency with reference — useful, not conclusive |
| Marker profile by HPLC | That the triterpenoid pattern matches T. arjuna |
| Part used | Stem bark — require wood and heartwood excluded |
The third line is the one to add if your current certificate lacks it. Ask for the profile to be run against authentic T. arjuna reference material and for the result to be stated on the document rather than held in a file.
The Assay Line
Require the method next to the number. "Tannins NLT 40%" is incomplete; "Tannins NLT 40% by [named method]" is a specification.
Without the method, two certificates from two suppliers are not comparable, and a change of method at the same supplier can move the figure without anything changing in the material. The detail is in our guide to standardisation and markers.
Ash: Two Lines, Two Meanings
This is where arjuna certificates are most often misread.
| Line | Typical limit | What it reflects |
|---|---|---|
| Total ash | NMT 12% | The botanical — arjuna bark is calcium and magnesium rich |
| Acid-insoluble ash | NMT 2% | Soil, grit, woody carry-over — the cleanliness line |
A high total ash on arjuna is expected. A high acid-insoluble ash is not, and should not be explained away by pointing at the mineral content of the bark. Read them separately and hold the second one tightly.
Contaminant Lines
Standard for a bark extract, and none of them optional:
- Heavy metals by ICP-MS — lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, each with its own limit. A single "heavy metals NMT 10 ppm" line is an outdated format and should be rejected;
- Aflatoxins B1 and total by HPLC-FLD — relevant because bark is dried in open conditions;
- Pesticide residues to EU MRL where the destination requires it — see our guide to EU pesticide MRL compliance;
- Ethylene oxide — a non-treatment declaration, with LC-MS/MS testing on request. ETO remains one of the most common reasons Indian botanical consignments are refused at the EU border;
- Residual solvent by GC — ethanol for a hydroalcoholic extract.
Microbiology
A full USP panel: total plate count, yeast and moulds, E. coli, Salmonella, S. aureus. Bark is a soil-adjacent raw material harvested outdoors, so the microbiological panel is doing real work here rather than ticking a box.
Provenance Lines
Two that are easy to omit and worth having:
- Collection status — cultivated or wild-collected, declared per batch. This matters for sustainability diligence and increasingly for buyer audits;
- Country of origin — and for arjuna it should say India, since that is the species' native range and where the classical material comes from.
A Complete Requirement Set
- Species by binomial, with marker profile by HPLC against reference;
- Identity by TLC;
- Tannins, method named;
- Stem-bark-only declaration, wood and heartwood excluded;
- Total ash and acid-insoluble ash reported separately;
- Loss on drying, pH, bulk density, mesh;
- Residual solvent by GC;
- Heavy metals by ICP-MS, itemised;
- Aflatoxins B1 and total;
- Pesticide residues and non-ETO declaration as the destination requires;
- Full USP microbiological panel;
- Collection status and country of origin;
- Batch number, manufacturing date, retest or expiry date.
Independent Verification
If you send material for third-party testing, put the marker profile in the scope rather than tannins alone. An independent tannin figure reproduces exactly the blind spot that lets a related species through — you will confirm the number and learn nothing about the identity.
Buyers can nominate Eurofins, SGS or Intertek. Every SV Botanica batch ships with a CoA from a NABL-accredited laboratory; our analytical methods are listed on the quality page, and you can request a sample with full documentation.
Source Bark-Only, Marker-Profiled Arjuna Extract from India
Terminalia arjuna stem bark extract · species confirmed, wood excluded · arjunolic acid marker profile by HPLC · tannins method-stated · CoA-backed · samples for qualified buyers