Which collagen brands are third-party tested?

8 of the 45 collagen peptides products we track are named at the exact package by a certifier. 6 more are listed by a program that names no package (Informed Choice). Another 4 sit on certifier listings that name another package size, not the packages we price. The remaining 27 appear in no database we searched.

NSF names packages by size and count against each certificate. A brand can sell the same formula in several sizes, or several flavors, and have one of them named, so “this brand is NSF certified” can be true while the package in your hand is not one NSF names. The group “Listed, but not this package” below is that gap.

A collagen label prints two figures that are easy to confuse: the grams of collagen peptides in the ingredient line, which this site prices on, and a protein figure a gram or two below it. NSF lists packages by size, so BulkSupplements.com's 500 g package can be named while its 1 kg package of the same product is not. Each row names the source its own panel prints.

Certifier names this exact package, 8

The strongest evidence available here. For NSF, the listing names the package size sold; it was opened, its package text recorded, and its ID is on the product page. For USP, which names products rather than packages, the product is in USP's directory and the USP Verified Mark is on this package's own label, and both are on the product page.

Certified, no package named, 6

Certified by a program that lists a product rather than a package: Informed Sport, Informed Choice and IFOS (International Fish Oil Standards) name no tub, bottle or count, so a listing covers the product, not a package size. The lot printed on a package can be checked against the lots the certifier lists. USP names no package either; a USP package counts as confirmed only when USP's directory lists the product and the package's own label carries the USP mark, which USP says is how a buyer can tell a product is verified. Informed Sport and IFOS test every batch; Informed Choice tests periodically, by each program's own description. That is real independent testing of the product; it is not a statement that the package in your hand was the one tested.

Listed, but not this package, 4

A certifier lists this brand's product, but the listing names another package size, or the same ingredient in another form, and not the package we price. Not a failure, and not a confirmation either.

Searched, and not found, 27

Not listed by NSF Certified for Sport, Informed Sport, Informed Choice or USP Verified when we read each one's list. These programs certify what a company submits to them, so a product can be absent from a list simply because it was never entered, which is not a finding against it.

NSF Certified for Sport, the Informed programs' published product lists and USP's directory are each read in full, and each product page names the day. A product missing from this page has not failed a check. It has not had one.

Full comparison of every product in this category: Collagen Peptides. Every question we answer: the question index.

What this rests on: prices we last recorded at the retailer named on each product page, which go stale, and each page says when it was checked; the products we track, not every product sold, and Amazon and Walmart are not among the stores; listings and labels read at the source, each linked from the page. Found an error? Tell us. The full method: How we compare.