NOW® Expands ISO Accreditation for In-House Laboratories

Ensuring quality through accreditation

As a leader in the natural products industry, NOW is always looking for ways to exceed industry standards and provide the highest quality products at the best possible price. NOW holds ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation from the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) for both our analytical and microbiological laboratories (certificate # 6253.01, 6253.02). The accreditation demonstrates that NOW meets technical and quality benchmarks as required by ISO/IEC 17025:2017. The accreditation is just one example of our commitment to quality and cutting-edge labs, as well as investments in third-party certifications.

ISO 17025 Accreditation Expanded in Both Chemical and Biological Scopes

In 2025, our in-house laboratories successfully expanded the scope of ISO 17025 accreditation in both the chemical and biological fields. The accreditation process involved a thorough assessment and review of the lab’s quality management system and competence.

Since 2021, NOW has maintained accreditation for eight of our 200+ analytical chemistry methods, including a method for screening 400+ pesticides in botanical raw materials, as well as the arsenic speciation method that most contract laboratories do not have the capability to offer. Currently, the NOW labs have 14 accredited chemistry methods, including quantitative allergen testing methods, as well as the ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) method. The Microbiology Lab also expanded its ISO scope from 6 to 12 methods in 2025, including the addition of the Sparks, Nevada lab, to the accreditation. The biological testing scope includes cutting-edge PCR technologies, which are utilized for pathogen detection and play a crucial role in the microbiological safety of NOW products.

Global quality from in-house labs

The process of achieving ISO accreditation includes passing a comprehensive assessment and review of the lab’s quality management system and competence to perform specific tests. This accreditation is not typically something that in-house labs pursue; rather, it is something that contract labs seek to demonstrate their competency. Given different regulatory requirements throughout the world, NOW decided to invest in ISO accreditation to expand its existing range of third-party certifications.

We have built our in-house labs into a strong competitive advantage not only because of the increased ability for us to test the incoming ingredients and finished products much faster than a contract lab ever could, but we are also able to validate our test methods to each of our thousand or so specific finished product matrices; something contract labs could never do for each company in an economical way. This gives our customers the additional assurance that NOW’s testing is among the best in the industry, allowing us to save time and money by not outsourcing the testing. As a result, we can continue to provide value in products and services that empower people to lead healthier lives.

Our continued dedication to quality and safety

The scopes of NOW’s accreditation can be found in the accompanying documents and include methods such as GENE-UP PCR detection of Salmonella and Listeria, arsenic speciation, metal and mineral testing by ICP-MS, fatty acid analysis of oils by GC-FID, and multi-pesticide residue analysis by LC-MS/MS and GC-MS/MS for over 425 pesticide residues, to name a few.