The Informed Sport certification

The Informed Sport certification is a voluntary programme for reputable supplement companies who wish to register some, or all, of their products and carry the Informed Sport mark on those products. Athletes who see the Informed Sport logo on a product can be assured it has undergone rigorous checks and testing to ensure that it is not contaminated with banned substances and is safer to use.

Details about Informed Sport and Our Testing Process

Although there is no such thing as a ‘100% guarantee' that tested supplements are free of all banned substances (see FAQ about 100% guarantees), Informed Sport provides athletes with an effective risk management service, allowing them to make informed choices about the products they choose to use. LGC's analysis of tens of thousands of supplement and raw material samples over the past two decades has shown that the incidence of contamination amongst high quality products that are regularly tested for banned substances are significantly lower (better than 1 in 5000) compared to products that do not undergo any banned substance testing, which can be as high as a 1 in 10 risk.

The Informed Sport certification process requires both a manufacturing quality system audit and pre-registration product testing. A thorough review of quality assurance systems, raw materials, and supply chain is carried out to ensure there is little risk of contamination in the finished product. This includes, but is not limited to:

1. Product evaluation including formulation, label claims, nutritional labeling, contaminant testing, etc.

2. Raw material evaluation at each production site

3. Review of accreditations held by the manufacturing and packing facility, such as Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)

4. Quality system and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) review for raw material storage and handling, review of SOPs for production and packaging, equipment cleaning, staff training, product traceability, etc.

5. Raw material supplier assessment

6. Finished goods storage and distribution evaluation

Pre-certification product testing is also required prior to acceptance onto the Informed Sport programme. This includes testing of 5 samples from different production runs to establish a history of testing.

Only after the audit is satisfactory and the product testing has shown no contamination issues can the product be registered into the programme and carry the Informed Sport mark.

Once the product is certified, regular batch testing and/or blind sample testing is carried out to ensure the products in the market are safer for athletes to use. All tested batches of product are listed on this website. They can be found on the Certified Products page or by simply typing in the name of the supplement in the search bar.

For more detail on certification with Informed Sport click here.