COA vs Specification vs TDS: Which Document Says What

Every botanical-extract purchase is governed by a small stack of documents, and they are not interchangeable. The Specification defines what the material must be; the Certificate of Analysis (COA) proves what one specific lot actually is; the Technical Data Sheet (TDS) describes what the product is like in general. Around those three sit supporting documents — the Safety Data Sheet (SDS), allergen statement, manufacturing flow chart and Certificate of Origin (COO) — each answering a narrower question. Reading the pack well means knowing, for any number you are quoted, which document it lives on and how binding that makes it.

Three documents, three different questions

The cleanest way to hold the distinction is as a chain of three verbs. The Specification defines. The COA proves. The TDS describes. Each answers a different question, and the trouble starts when a buyer asks one document to do another document's job.

• Specification — “What must this material meet?” The agreed set of parameters, limits and targets that every lot has to satisfy to be acceptable. It is forward-looking and lot-independent: it governs all future deliveries until it is revised.
• Certificate of Analysis (COA) — “What did this particular lot actually test as?” The measured results for one identified batch, reported against the specification limits. It is backward-looking and lot-specific: it speaks only for the lot whose number it carries.
• Technical Data Sheet (TDS) — “What is this product like, in general?” A descriptive overview of the product: its origin, manufacture, typical properties, suggested uses and handling. It is general and lot-independent, and the figures on it are typically typical, not guaranteed.

The Specification: what the material must meet

The Specification is the contract for quality. It is the agreed document — ideally signed off by both supplier and buyer — that lists every parameter the material must satisfy and the acceptable limit or range for each. It does not describe any single lot; it describes the envelope that every lot must fall inside. A lot that falls outside any one limit is out of specification, regardless of how good the rest of the results look.

Because the Specification is forward-looking, it is the document you negotiate hardest before the first order. Once agreed, it becomes the reference against which every subsequent COA is read. Change the Specification and you change what “passing” means for every future lot, which is why revisions are version-controlled and re-approved rather than edited quietly.

What a complete Specification contains

• Identity — botanical name, plant part, extraction solvent, and the native or standardised ratio that defines the material.
• Marker / active limits — the standardised assay parameter with a stated minimum or range (for example, a marker reported as a % with its lower limit), and the analytical method used to measure it.
• Physical parameters — appearance, colour, odour, particle size or mesh, bulk and tapped density, and solubility where relevant.
• Moisture — loss on drying and, where specified, water activity, each with its limit.
• Purity and contaminants — limits for heavy metals, pesticide residues, residual solvents, mycotoxins and adulterants, each with a method.
• Microbiological limits — total plate count, yeasts and moulds, and absence criteria for specified pathogens.
• Carrier and additives — any flow agent or carrier, declared with its proportion.
• Packaging, storage and shelf life — the pack the material ships in, storage conditions, and the assigned shelf-life or retest period.

The Certificate of Analysis: what this lot actually is

The COA is the evidence document. For one identified lot, it reports the actual tested results — measured numbers, not promises — laid alongside the Specification limits so you can see, parameter by parameter, that the lot passes. It is the proof that this batch, the one in the drums on your dock, meets the contract you agreed in the Specification.

The defining feature of a COA is that it is lot-specific. Its authority extends to exactly one batch — the one whose lot number it carries — and to no other. A COA from a previous shipment tells you nothing reliable about the lot arriving today; only the COA bearing today's lot number does. This is the single most important fact about the document, and the one most often forgotten.

What a complete COA contains

• Lot / batch number and product name — the unique identifier that ties every result on the page to one specific batch.
• Manufacturing and best-before / retest dates — so remaining shelf life on arrival can be read, not assumed.
• Each specified parameter with its result and its limit — the actual measured value shown against the Specification limit, with a clear pass / fail.
• Methods or method references — the analytical method behind each result, so a number can be reproduced and compared like-for-like.
• Quantity / lot size — the mass the certificate covers.
• Authorised signature and release date — the named quality release that makes the document an accountable statement, not a draft.

The Technical Data Sheet: what the product is like

The Technical Data Sheet (TDS) is the description document — part technical reference, part sales literature. It introduces the product: its botanical source and origin, how it is made, its standardisation, its typical physical and chemical properties, suggested applications, dosage context, solubility and handling notes. It is the document a buyer reads first and, for that reason, the one most likely to be mistaken for more than it is.

Two features define the TDS and both matter. First, it is general, not lot-specific: it describes the product line, not any one batch, and carries no lot number. Second, its figures are typically labelled “typical” — representative values observed across production, offered for orientation, not guaranteed for any particular delivery. A TDS is the right place to learn what a product is and decide whether it is worth qualifying. It is the wrong place to look for proof that the lot in your warehouse passes.

“Typical” is not “guaranteed”

The word “typical” on a TDS is doing precise and deliberate work. A typical assay of, say, a marker around a given % means production has tended to land near that figure — it is an expectation, not a commitment. The committed figure is the limit written into the Specification; the demonstrated figure is the result printed on the lot's COA. Reading a typical TDS value as a guaranteed minimum is the most common way buyers get burned: the lot may be perfectly in specification and still sit below the “typical” headline number, because that number was never a limit in the first place.

How the three relate

The three documents are not rivals; they are a sequence. The Specification defines the target, the COA demonstrates that a given lot hit it, and the TDS describes the product around both. Read in order, they form a complete picture: what the material must be, what this batch is, and what the product is like in general.

Supporting documents: SDS, allergen, flow chart, COO

Around the core three sits a ring of supporting documents. None of them replaces a Specification or a COA, but a complete dossier is not complete without them, and each answers a question the core three do not.

• Safety Data Sheet (SDS) — the standardised hazard, handling, storage and first-aid document (the term that replaced the older MSDS). It is about worker and warehouse safety, not product quality, and it is product-level rather than lot-specific.
• Allergen statement — a declaration of which regulated allergens are present, absent, or possible through cross-contact in the facility. It feeds your own labelling and allergen risk assessment.
• Manufacturing flow chart — a process map from incoming raw material through extraction, drying, standardisation and packing, showing where the critical control points sit. It lets you see how the material is made, not just what it tests as.
• Certificate of Origin (COO) — a statement of the botanical's country of origin, often tied to a shipment or lot, used for customs, traceability and provenance claims.

How buyers get burned

Almost every documentation failure is a category error — treating one type of document as if it were another. The patterns repeat across the industry, and each one is avoidable once you know which document says what.

1. 1Treating a TDS as lot proof — accepting the Technical Data Sheet as evidence that a delivered lot conforms. The TDS has no lot number and guarantees nothing about the batch on your dock; only the lot's COA does that.
2. 2Reading “typical” as “guaranteed” — taking a typical assay figure off a TDS as a minimum the lot must hit. The binding minimum lives in the Specification; the TDS figure is an expectation, not a limit.
3. 3Accepting a generic or recycled COA — taking a COA with no lot number, or one whose numbers are identical shipment after shipment, as fresh proof. Real results move lot to lot; reused numbers are a red flag.
4. 4Mismatched lot numbers — failing to check that the lot number on the COA matches the lot number on the drums. A COA for a different lot is, for your purposes, no COA at all.
5. 5No agreed Specification — buying against a TDS alone, with no signed Specification. Without an agreed set of limits there is no objective definition of “passing,” and disputes become arguments about expectation rather than fact.
6. 6Stale dates — overlooking the manufacturing date on the COA and assuming full shelf life, when much of it may already have elapsed before the lot ships.

The document pack to request

For a controlled supply, ask for the full pack up front rather than collecting documents reactively when a problem appears. A complete dossier qualifies the product, the supplier and the lot in one move.

1. 1An agreed, version-controlled Specification — signed off by both parties, with limits and methods for every parameter that matters to you.
2. 2A lot-specific COA for the actual lot shipping — with the lot number, manufacturing and retest dates, measured results against limits, methods, and an authorised release signature.
3. 3The current TDS — for product understanding, origin, standardisation and handling, read as description rather than proof.
4. 4The SDS — current, matching the material, for safe handling and storage.
5. 5An allergen statement — covering presence, absence and cross-contact for your labelling and risk assessment.
6. 6A manufacturing flow chart — to understand the process and where controls sit.
7. 7A Certificate of Origin (COO) — for provenance, customs and traceability.
8. 8Where relevant, the stability data and any audit or certification documents that sit behind the Specification's shelf-life claim.