How to verify a certification

A logo on a website isn't proof. Each certifier keeps its own public list of certified products, and that list is the only place a certification can really be checked.

Step by step

Find the mark on the package itself, not just on a product page or ad. The Non-GMO Project, for example, notes that products from unverified lots can stay on shelves.
Search the certifier's own database (links below), not the brand's site.
Match the exact product. Listings are often per flavor, size or country. NSF, for example, lists some products separately for the US and Canada.
Check the lot or batch where the program lists them. NSF and BSCG both let you search by lot number.
If you're drug tested, check your sport's rules too. NSF notes that some organizations prohibit hemp or CBD products, whatever their certification.

Where to check

NSF Certified for Sport ↗

Search by name, keyword or lot number, or scan the barcode in the Certified for Sport® app.

Informed Sport ↗

Search the certified product list.

BSCG ↗

Search certified products by lot number, product, brand or category.

Cologne List ↗

Browse the listed products, or use the Cologne List app.

USDA Organic ↗

Search for the company; the database lists certified operations rather than products.

Non-GMO Project Verified ↗

Search the Product Finder by keyword.

GFCO (gluten-free) ↗

Use “Find a certified product”.

Red flags

“Third-party tested” or “lab tested” with no named program. Tested by whom, for what, and how often? Without a named certifier there's nothing to look up.
“Doping-free” or “banned-substance free” promises. The Cologne List makes listed companies agree not to advertise “doping-free”, because no laboratory can test for every banned substance.
A seal you can't find in the certifier's database. Certifications lapse, and products change.
Sourcing seals presented as safety testing. Organic and Non-GMO marks are about ingredients, not banned substances.

How Pello checks

Certifications on Pello come from each product's listing at The Feed. We also looked up every NSF Certified for Sport product in NSF's own database: 143 are confirmed, and their pages link straight to the NSF listing. Products we couldn't find there aren't shown as NSF certified. Other certifications show as “Listed by The Feed”, with a link to check them in the certifier's database.

Sources

Checked against each source in October 2026. Programs change their rules, so the certifier's own site is the final word.

More certification guides

Sport testing

NSF Certified for Sport, Informed Sport, BSCG and the Cologne List: what each tests for, and how often.

Food & sourcing

What USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified do and don't mean.

Diet certifications

Certified Vegan and certified gluten-free, and how a certification differs from a label claim.