Fertilizer quality testing confirms a product’s true composition: how much nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and micronutrients it actually contains, and whether it matches what the label declares. Laboratorios Anderson is the first Mexican laboratory certified under GLP-OECD, and also holds ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, providing results that hold up before regulatory authorities and export markets.
Why Test Your Fertilizer Before Selling or Applying It
A fertilizer that doesn’t match its declared composition creates three problems: rejection during state registration, customer complaints over poor agronomic performance, and exposure to penalties for mislabeling. In the United States, fertilizers are regulated at the state level — each state maintains its own registration requirements, though most follow labeling standards coordinated by AAPFCO (the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials) to keep guarantees consistent across state lines. Testing your fertilizer before commercialization — or with every production batch — is how you avoid all three at once.
What a Complete Fertilizer Analysis Covers
A fertilizer sample analysis at Laboratorios Anderson covers three fronts:
| Category | What’s Determined |
|---|---|
| Macronutrients | Total nitrogen, ammoniacal nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, urea nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur |
| Micronutrients | Boron, copper, iron, manganese, zinc, calcium, magnesium, aluminum, sodium, potassium, molybdenum, cobalt, silicon |
| Quality & safety | Organic matter, organic carbon, humic and fulvic acids, alginic acid, biuret, chlorides, water hardness |
| Heavy metals | Arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, selenium, chromium, nickel — including hexavalent chromium |
This last category is critical for phosphate fertilizers. Heavy metal determination in formulations confirms compliance with cadmium and other contaminant limits set by AAPFCO’s Uniform State Fertilizer Bill, which most states use as the technical basis for their own regulations — as well as limits required by export markets such as the European Union.
Complete List of Determinations
Among other tests, the laboratory performs the following determinations for plant nutrients and fertilizers:
- Alginic acid
- Humic and fulvic acids
- Sulfur
- Biuret
- Boron
- Organic carbon
- Chlorides
- Hexavalent chromium
- Water hardness
- Phosphorus
- Organic matter
- Heavy metals in formulations (As, Cd, Pb, Hg, Se, Cr, Ni)
- Combined ammoniacal nitrogen
- Nitrate nitrogen (modified Jones method)
- Total nitrogen (litmus or methyl red indicator)
- Urea nitrogen
- Minor nutrients: Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, Ca, Mg, Al, Na, K, Mo, Co
- Silicon and aluminum
GLP-OECD and ISO/IEC 17025 Backed Results
As an accredited fertilizer testing laboratory, every determination follows validated methodologies with complete documented traceability. This means results are defensible under a regulatory audit, acceptable for international registration dossiers, and reliable for high-stakes commercial decisions.
Who This Service Is For
Fertilizer manufacturers who need to verify their product before it reaches the market, importers who need to confirm the composition of a raw material, and growers seeking fertilizer quality control before large-scale application.
Request Your Fertilizer Analysis
Verify the true composition of your fertilizer — macronutrients, micronutrients, and heavy metals — backed by a GLP-OECD and ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory. Contact us and request a quote for your fertilizer analysis.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does fertilizer quality analysis measure?
It measures a product’s true composition: macronutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium; micronutrients like boron, zinc, and iron; and contaminants like heavy metals, confirming the fertilizer matches its label guarantee.
Why is testing heavy metals in fertilizer important?
Phosphate fertilizers with cadmium, lead, or other metals above allowable limits can be rejected during state registration or by export markets, and contaminate soil with every application.
What accreditation backs Laboratorios Anderson’s fertilizer testing?
Laboratorios Anderson is the first Mexican laboratory certified under GLP-OECD, and also holds ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation.
How often should I test my fertilizer?
Every production batch and every new formulation should be tested, in addition to testing before state registration or before exporting to a new market.