Why TEC exists

The result travels.
Its provenance should too.

Laboratory evidence routinely crosses organizational boundaries as a PDF. The documented problem is not simply that a file can be forged. It is that the receiver cannot reliably establish its source, integrity, context, or current status without doing the verification again.

Document fraudOfficially recognized
COA reliabilityRecurring enforcement concern
Digital exchangeActive standards work
Market demandTo be proven by pilots

The documented need

This is not a hypothetical problem.

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.

2026University of California, DavisBrands may unknowingly receive adulterated avocado oil

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 certificates

The 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 fraud

Customers 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 products

The 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 recall

FDA 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 Analysis

Its work targets machine-readable certificates that are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable.

Evidence, with discipline

What is established—and what remains to prove.

Established

False and altered laboratory documents exist.

Government alerts and prosecutions demonstrate occurrence and potentially severe consequences.

Established

Supplier COAs cannot simply be trusted.

Quality systems must establish supplier reliability, methods, sampling context, and applicability.

Established

Document-based exchange blocks automation.

NIST and industry initiatives are already developing structured, machine-readable certificates.

Open question

Will buyers require a shared evidence network?

TEC must earn that answer through real laboratory, brand, and retailer pilots—not assertion.

A durable architecture

One mark. Four clear meanings.

TEC names the evidence credential. TECRID names its permanent record identifier. Registry names the public infrastructure—not a vague membership network.

TEC Registry
The public resolver and operating platform
Test Evidence Credential
The lab-issued digital record
TECRID
The permanent TEC Record Identifier
TEC Protocol
The open technical and governance standard
ICS
The standards steward and public-interest home

Free at the edges

Verification cannot become valuable until it becomes ubiquitous.

TEC Registry follows a network strategy: remove the tollbooths from verification, then build paid services around the activity the open registry creates.

Labs issueBrands shareBuyers requireEvidence improves
TECFree verification

Free, by principle

The network utility

  • Public resolution and verification
  • Draft-protocol TEC issuance tooling
  • The open credential specification
  • Basic issuer and correction history
  • A reasonable public API
Founding principle 01

Evidence may be confidential. Verification must never be paywalled.

Proposed vertical · not yet implemented

Preserve what was claimed.
Test what was present.

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.

  1. 01
    Supplier declares

    “Lot AO-1842 is 100% avocado oil.” The named supplier signs and timestamps that representation.

  2. 02
    Custody connects

    Shipment, containers, seals, receiving, sampling, and laboratory receipt point to the same lot.

  3. 03
    The laboratory issues

    An authenticity TEC records the method, analytical markers, results, uncertainty, issuer proof, and TECRID.

  4. 04
    A future application compares

    The resulting state could be consistent, inconsistent, inconclusive, or custody not established—not a marketing badge.

A natural extension

Built for the Institute of Contaminant Standards.

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.

  • Open technical specification
  • Transparent issuer eligibility
  • Public corrections and governance
  • Outcome-neutral economics

The opportunity

Make evidence portable before making it powerful.

Join the registry