Which whey protein brands are third-party tested?

5 of the 44 whey protein products we track are named at the exact package by a certifier. 5 more are listed by a program that names no package (Informed Choice or Informed Sport). Another 4 sit on certifier listings that name another package size, not the packages we price. 24 appear in no database we searched. 6 match a listing that may cover them, and whether it does is not settled either way, so they are listed separately below rather than counted as absent.

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.

Flavors matter here in a way they do not elsewhere: NSF lists some brands flavor by flavor, so a vanilla tub can be certified while the chocolate one next to it is not. Where a brand sells an unflavored version we price that one, and say so on the row.

Certifier names this exact package, 5

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, 5

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, 24

Each of these is absent from every program list we checked it against. Every one was checked against NSF Certified for Sport, and each product page names any other program. 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.

Not settled either way, 6

A certifier's list holds an entry that may cover these, and the entry does not say whether it does. Neither confirmed nor absent; each product page has the detail.

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: Whey Protein. 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.