Understanding a Lab Report - Proof of Purity

Most consumers have never seen a lab report for the food they eat. The ingredients list, the nutritional panel, the certifications printed on the back of the pack — these are summaries. They tell you what a brand wants you to know, presented in the format a brand controls.

Lab reports are different. They're the underlying data — numbers generated by an accredited testing facility against a specific parameter, on a specific batch, on a specific date. They don't have marketing language. They don't round things off. And when you know how to read them, they tell you things a product label never will.

The problem is that most people don't know how to read them. And in an environment where "lab-tested" is increasingly used as a marketing claim — sometimes meaningfully, sometimes not — understanding what the numbers actually mean matters.

This piece is an attempt to explain that. Not abstractly, but through the specific parameters that Khetika tests across its product range and what each of them is actually measuring.

Why a single test result isn't the whole story

Before getting into what specific tests measure, it's worth understanding a structural reality of food testing: results from a single lab, on a single sample, at a single point in time, are a data point — not a verdict.

Labs are run by humans. Errors happen. Sample labelling gets mixed up. Units get reported incorrectly — micrograms instead of milligrams is a 1000x difference that completely changes whether a result is concerning or perfectly normal. Two samples from the same batch sent to the same lab on the same day can return different values for the same parameter.

This isn't a criticism of labs — it's the nature of testing at the level of molecules and microbial counts. Which is why the credibility of a testing system depends on its architecture as much as its intent. Single-lab, single-sample testing can produce genuine results, but it also has a single point of failure. The more robust approach is multiple labs, testing across batches, with results that can be cross-verified.

Khetika runs a dual-layer system: internal testing in its own in-house laboratories, followed by independent validation at NABL-accredited external labs. NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) is India's national accreditation body — labs that carry this designation have been audited for methodology, equipment calibration, and result reliability against defined standards.

The external partner labs — Bureau Veritas (Navi Mumbai), Indoprime Lab (Unjha), Vimta Labs (Ahmedabad), and Geo-Chem (Mumbai) — are independent of Khetika. Their results aren't controlled by the brand. That independence is what makes external testing meaningful rather than performative.

What each test category is actually measuring

Khetika's testing covers 125+ checks across eight categories. Here's what each of them means in plain terms.

Microbiological tests

These check for the presence of harmful bacteria and pathogens — E. coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, and others depending on the product category. Microbial contamination is one of the most direct food safety risks, and it's particularly relevant in fresh and minimally processed products like batters and chutneys, where the absence of preservatives means microbial control has to come from process discipline rather than chemical intervention.

A product that's preservative-free but not rigorously tested for microbial load isn't safer — it's just untested. Passing a microbiological test is what actually makes "no preservatives" a safety claim rather than just a label claim.

Heavy metal tests

Plants absorb metals from soil and water during growth. This means trace amounts of heavy metals — lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury — can be present in almost any plant-derived food. The relevant question is never whether they're detected, but whether they're within safe limits.

Regulators set these limits based on toxicological data — the dose at which a substance causes measurable harm over time. Lead is regulated at 2.5ppm for most food products. Arsenic at 1.1ppm. Cadmium at 1.5ppm. A product showing 0.3ppm of lead isn't a lead-contaminated product — it's a product that tested well below the safety threshold.

This distinction matters because "contains heavy metals" and "heavy metals within safe limits" are not the same statement, though they're sometimes presented as if they are.

Chemical tests

These verify composition — protein content, dietary fibre, fat, moisture, and other nutritional parameters. For a brand making specific nutritional claims, this is the test that validates whether the label matches the product.

Natural variation exists in food. FSSAI allows a ±10% deviation from label claims for macronutrients — provisionally expanded to ±20% — because moisture levels, harvest variation, and batch-to-batch differences in raw materials produce real, unavoidable fluctuation. A product claiming 10g of protein per serving that tests at 9.5g isn't mislabelled — it's within normal variation. A product that consistently tests 30-40% below its claim is a different problem.

Additive tests

These confirm the absence of artificial colours, fillers, and preservatives. For a brand whose core claim is preservative-free, naturally processed food, this is the test that makes that claim verifiable rather than asserted. If a product says no artificial colour and it fails an additive test, the claim fails with it.

Physical tests

Texture, colour, aroma, consistency. These aren't safety parameters — they're quality and authenticity parameters. A spice powder that passes chemical and microbial tests but has the wrong colour profile may have been adulterated with a cheaper filler. Physical testing catches deviations that chemical testing sometimes doesn't flag directly.

Mycotoxin tests

Mycotoxins are naturally occurring toxins produced by moulds that grow on grains, spices, and dry foods under improper storage conditions. Aflatoxins — produced by Aspergillus moulds — are the most commonly tested and are classified as Group 1 carcinogens, meaning the evidence for their cancer-causing properties in humans is established rather than theoretical.

Dry fruits, spices, and grains are particularly susceptible to mycotoxin contamination if storage conditions — humidity, temperature, air circulation — aren't controlled through the supply chain. Testing for mycotoxins is a supply chain discipline as much as a lab discipline; if the storage is wrong at any point between farm and packaging, contamination can occur regardless of what the final product looks like.

Pesticide residue tests

Agricultural produce is grown in environments where pesticide use is common. Residues can persist on and in the grain or spice after harvest. Global food safety standards set maximum residue limits (MRLs) for specific pesticide compounds on specific food categories — these limits account for typical dietary exposure and are set well below levels associated with harm.

Testing for pesticide residues is particularly relevant for spices and dry fruits, where the raw material comes from agricultural supply chains that aren't always directly controlled by the brand doing the testing. Organic certification addresses farming practices; residue testing validates the actual product.

Contaminant tests

Broader checks for adulterants and foreign materials that shouldn't be present — ensuring the ingredient is what it claims to be, uncut and unblended with cheaper alternatives. Spice adulteration is a well-documented problem in India; contaminant testing is one of the mechanisms for catching it.

What "Not Detected" means — and what it doesn't

The Proof of Purity reports use "Not Detected" (ND) for parameters where the substance tested was below detectable limits under laboratory standards. This is not the same as "zero."

Every test has a detection threshold — the minimum concentration the methodology can reliably identify. Below that threshold, the result is reported as Not Detected. This means the substance may be absent entirely, or it may be present in quantities too small for the method to distinguish from background noise. Both outcomes are reported the same way.

For most practical purposes, Not Detected is the result you want. It means the substance is either absent or present at quantities well below any threshold of concern. Understanding this prevents the misreading that sometimes happens in the other direction — treating Not Detected as absolute zero and then becoming disproportionately alarmed when a trace amount is detected in a subsequent test.

How to access Khetika's lab reports

The reports are publicly available — not summarised, not selectively shared, but the actual certificates, batch by batch.

You can reach them two ways: through the Proof of Purity link on the Khetika website, or by scanning the Proof of Purity QR code printed on any Khetika pack. Both take you to qr.khetika.com/purityproof.

The reports are organised by product and manufacturing month, so you can look up the specific batch you have at home. Every batch undergoes internal testing. External NABL lab validation is conducted regularly as per compliance protocols, and non-compliant batches are withheld — they don't reach sale.

This is the operational meaning of transparency. Not a claim on a label, but a mechanism that lets you verify the claim independently.

A note on what testing doesn't tell you

Lab reports answer specific questions about specific parameters on specific batches. They don't tell you everything about a product, and it's worth being clear about that.

A product can pass every safety test and still be nutritionally inferior — low in the compounds that make an ingredient worth using, ground using methods that degrade quality, stored in conditions that allow flavour and potency to deplete before the product reaches you. Testing covers safety and composition. It doesn't cover everything that determines whether food is genuinely good.

The other thing testing doesn't do is replace sourcing discipline. A brand that sources from well-managed, traceable supply chains and then tests the result is doing something structurally different from one that sources from anonymous commodity markets and tests as a final filter. Testing is more reliable when it's confirming what you already have strong reason to believe is true — rather than catching problems that better sourcing would have prevented.

Both matter. The lab report is the verification. The supply chain is the foundation it's built on.

FAQ

What does NABL accreditation mean for a testing lab? NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) is India's national body that accredits labs against internationally recognised standards. Accreditation involves assessment of the lab's methodology, equipment calibration, staff competence, and quality management systems. A NABL-accredited result carries external validation that the test was conducted to a defined standard — it's not just a lab's own claim about its reliability.

Are all Khetika batches tested? Every batch undergoes internal testing. External validation at NABL-accredited labs is conducted regularly as per compliance and regulatory protocols. Non-compliant batches are not released for sale.

What happens if a batch fails a test? It's withheld. It doesn't go to packaging or sale. This is a basic principle of food safety compliance, but it's worth stating explicitly — the testing system only means something if failing a test has a consequence.

How do I find the lab report for my specific pack? Scan the Proof of Purity QR code on your Khetika pack, or visit qr.khetika.com/purityproof and look up your product and manufacturing month. Reports are available batch-wise.

Why are some parameters listed as "Not Detected" rather than giving a number? Not Detected means the substance was below the laboratory's detectable threshold for that test method. It indicates either absence or presence at quantities too small for the method to quantify — both of which are well within safe limits. It's the expected result for parameters like heavy metals and pesticide residues in a product that sources and processes carefully.

Does testing organic products for pesticide residues make sense? Yes. Organic certification covers farming practices — it specifies that synthetic pesticides were not intentionally used. Residue testing validates the actual product, which can still show trace contamination from soil, water, or proximity to non-organic farming. Testing and certification together are more reliable than either alone.