Holistic Roasters biodynamic coffee — independently lab-tested for purity

Third-Party Lab Results

Every harvest of our Biodynamic coffee is sent to independent, accredited laboratories before it reaches you. We publish every certificate of analysis here, unedited.

Because our coffee is Demeter-certified Biodynamic, no synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides are permitted anywhere on the farm — purity is built in at the source rather than chased after the fact. Our lab testing therefore focuses on what actually matters for a clean cup: mycotoxins (ochratoxin A and aflatoxins), heavy metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic), and microbiological contaminants.

We use two complementary third-party laboratories: Actlabs Agriculture Division performs the 16-compound mycotoxin panel by LC-MS (covering ochratoxin A, aflatoxins B1/B2/G1/G2, DON, fumonisins, T-2, HT-2, zearalenone, and more), and Eurofins Essais Alimentaires performs both the heavy metals panel by ICP-MS (lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic) and the microbiological contaminants panel (E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria). Both laboratories are ISO 17025 accredited. Each certificate below identifies the performing laboratory.

Reports are organized newest first by roast lot. Click any test to open the original lab PDF.

New to lab reports? Here’s how to read one — then click any harvest below to open the original PDF.

Tested for: Mycotoxins · Heavy Metals · Microbiology · Ergot Alkaloids

How to read these reports

Each harvest gets three certificates. Watch the two-minute overview, open a test type for the detail, then read a real report below. Prefer the long version? Read the full explainer →

Mycotoxins16 compounds · Actlabs Agriculture · LC-MS

What the lab looks for: ochratoxin A, aflatoxins B1/B2/G1/G2, deoxynivalenol (DON) and its acetyl forms, fumonisins B1/B2, T-2 and HT-2, zearalenone, diacetoxyscirpenol, sterigmatocystin and mycophenolic acid.

How: liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (Actlabs method AGR DI M 1.3), which can measure down to 1 ppb for aflatoxins and 3 ppb for ochratoxin A.

Why it matters: mycotoxins are made by moulds that can grow on coffee in humid growing, processing or storage conditions. Ochratoxin A and the aflatoxins are the ones regulators watch most closely in coffee.

How to read a result: a value written as <1 ppb or <0.003 ppm means the lab looked and found nothing above its reporting limit — that is the “below detection” you will see on most lines. Occasionally a panel quantifies a trace of a naturally occurring compound; when that happens we publish it exactly as reported and note it in the harvest’s at-a-glance line.

Heavy metalsArsenic · Cadmium · Mercury · Lead · Eurofins · ICP-MS

What the lab looks for: arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead.

How: microwave digestion followed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (AOAC 2011.14) at Eurofins Essais Alimentaires, Longueuil, Québec — sensitive to hundredths of a milligram per kilogram.

Why it matters: metals reach crops through soil, water and air pollution and accumulate over time; a farm’s soil history shows up here.

How to read a result: results are in mg/kg (the same as parts per million). <0.02 mg/kg means below the detection limit. A small measured number is a trace: the certificate states it exactly, and we repeat it unedited.

MicrobiologyE. coli · Salmonella · Listeria · Eurofins · Health Canada methods

What the lab looks for: a count of Escherichia coli, and presence/absence of Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes in a 25 g sample.

How: Health Canada compendium methods — Petrifilm plating for E. coli (MFHPB-34), enrichment culture for Salmonella (MFHPB-20) and PCR after enrichment for Listeria (MFLP-28).

Why it matters: these are the organisms that cause food-borne illness through handling and moisture. Roasting kills most bacteria; testing confirms the beans arrive clean.

How to read a result: <10 CFU/g means no E. coli colonies were found at the counting limit; Negative means the organism was not detected in the 25 g sample.

Ergot alkaloidsScreened on selected lots

Ergot alkaloids are toxins from Claviceps fungi, better known from cereal grains than coffee. Where the laboratory panel offered it we ran the screen as well; those harvests carry an extra “Ergot Alkaloids” certificate below.

A real report, annotated

Four rows from the June 2026 mycotoxin certificate for 18 Conejo (Honduras). Every certificate below follows this pattern.

Mycotoxin 1Value (dry basis) 2UnitsRL 3Method
Aflatoxin B1<1ppb1AGR DI M 1.3
Ochratoxin A<0.003ppm0.003AGR DI M 1.3
Deoxynivalenol (DON)0.38 4ppm0.06AGR DI M 1.3
Fumonisin B1<0.1ppm0.1AGR DI M 1.3
  1. 1The compound the lab looked for — 16 per certificate.
  2. 2The result. A “<” value means the lab looked and found nothing above its limit — that is “below detection”.
  3. 3RL = reporting limit, the smallest amount the method can reliably measure (here 1 ppb for aflatoxins, 3 ppb for ochratoxin A).
  4. 4A quantified trace. When a naturally occurring compound is measured above the RL, the number is printed as-is. We publish it unedited and flag it in that harvest’s summary.

Excerpt from Actlabs Agriculture report CA26-D-JUN17-012 · open the original PDF

What is 1 ppb? 1 second in 32 years 1 inch in 16,000 miles 1 drop in a 50′ swimming pool

✓ below detection ~ trace, reported as measured — the summary chips on each harvest below use these two marks.

Certificates of Analysis by Harvest 15 harvests

Showing the most recent harvests — scroll the list for all 15.

Related Reading

Lab reports are provided by independent third-party laboratories and reproduced here without modification. Each report corresponds to a specific green-coffee lot; the harvest you receive is identified on your bag. Questions about a specific result? Contact us — we are happy to walk you through any report.