Why TEC exists
An unverifiable COA makes every recipient start again. Counsel and retailers spend time reconciling folders of PDFs, matching lots, chasing the issuing laboratory, and locating corrections. Replace that PDF trust and discovery friction with checkable, issuer-signed evidence whose source, integrity, and current status can be verified.
The proof problem · Free core trust
Counsel and retailers waste time reconciling folders of PDFs: tracing the issuer, matching the lot, and finding the latest correction. That discovery friction follows every handoff. Give them one checkable, issuer-signed evidence record to resolve.
Think of a DOI analogue for lab reports: a persistent identifier that leads back to the record. TECRID adds issuer-signature checks, current status, and version history. It is not a DOI or a certification.
Core issuance and verification are free. Private evidence stays subject to its disclosure controls; paying never buys issuer credibility.
Join TECRID freeVLE uses TECRID-linked evidence to assess whether a specific lot is QUALIFIED. The commercial opportunity follows qualification, as an eligible lot moves toward reserve.
Qualification is not for sale. VLE currently operates as a demo and pilot; TECRID does not promise a qualified lot or a transaction.
Explore VLE QUALIFIEDApply to Heavy Metal Tested and Certified (HMTc) for a separate product-certification review. Review the program requirements and fee estimate with your application.
Fees pay for certification work. A TECRID authenticates the evidence; it does not award certification or guarantee a passing result.
Apply for HMTc certificationAuthenticity has a clear boundary. TECRID does not certify products or safety and does not replace ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, representative sampling, or expert interpretation. Commercial value belongs in downstream VLE activity and HMTc certification; core trust stays free.
For the issuing laboratory
Every “did you issue this?” call puts your team back on a report it already finished. Issue a signed record once, let authorized recipients check it, and keep corrections attached to the same identifier.
VLE connects laboratory evidence to sealed samples and recorded custody. As buyers request TECRID-linked evidence, your laboratory gains a path to more testing of independently sealed samples. Pilots must establish the actual time saved and volume gained.
See the laboratory path →The documented need
Independent institutions have documented fraudulent certificates, incomplete testing, unreliable supplier evidence, and the need for machine-readable analytical records. No single incident proves a global market—but together they establish a serious, verifiable infrastructure failure.
UC Davis reported widespread inconsistency in avocado-oil-labeled processed foods and noted that adulteration may originate through upstream suppliers and brokers.
2025UK National Food Crime UnitA national alert about fraud in laboratory certificatesThe NFCU reported issuing a specific food-crime alert to industry about document fraud in laboratory certificates.
$46MU.S. Department of JusticeA testing company admitted a decades-long reporting fraudCustomers received reports representing that specified testing had occurred when materially fewer panelists had actually been tested.
COAsU.S. Department of JusticeA manufacturer created false certificates for adulterated productsThe prosecuted scheme included omitted fillers, false certifications, and an altered document supplied during an FDA inspection.
2024U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationHeavy-metal evidence required verification after a recallFDA discussed external testing to verify supplier-reported heavy metals and identified missing sampling and method assurances.
FAIRNational Institute of Standards and TechnologyNIST is already piloting digital Certificates of AnalysisIts work targets machine-readable certificates that are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.
Evidence, with discipline
Government alerts and prosecutions demonstrate occurrence and potentially severe consequences.
Quality systems must establish supplier reliability, methods, sampling context, and applicability.
NIST and industry initiatives are already developing structured, machine-readable certificates.
TEC must earn that answer through real laboratory, brand, and retailer pilots—not assertion.
A durable architecture
TEC names the evidence credential. TECRID names its permanent record identifier. Registry names the public infrastructure—not a vague membership network.
Proposed vertical · not yet implemented
A supplier declaration and a laboratory result answer different questions. This proposed application would link them to the same physical lot without pretending that the declaration itself is analytical proof.
“Lot AO-1842 is 100% avocado oil.” The named supplier signs and timestamps that representation.
Shipment, containers, seals, receiving, sampling, and laboratory receipt point to the same lot.
An authenticity TEC records the method, analytical markers, results, uncertainty, issuer proof, and TECRID.
The resulting state could be consistent, inconsistent, inconclusive, or custody not established—not a marketing badge.
A natural extension
ICS is positioned to define the contaminant evidence schema, convene laboratories and buyers, maintain the public-interest rules, and make the boundary between authentic evidence and safety interpretation unmistakable.
The opportunity