Contract Testing Laboratories of America

What Contract Testing Laboratories of America does

Contract Testing Laboratories of America (CTLA) is a private, FDA-registered analytical chemistry laboratory headquartered in Spanish Fork, Utah County, founded in 2013. The lab provides third-party laboratory testing services to dietary supplement, food, and cosmetics manufacturers and brands, with a particular concentration on the GMP-certified supplement segment. CTLA operates an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited facility (via PJLA), conducting microbiology (TPC, Yeast/Mold, Salmonella, E. coli, Staph, Listeria via PCR), identity and purity (FTIR, HPTLC for 800+ botanicals), heavy metals (ICP-MS), nutritional panels, allergen, vitamin, stability, water activity, moisture, viscosity, and preservative efficacy testing. Standard turnaround is 3-5 business days with rush options available.

The lab's underlying technology stack is conventional analytical chemistry instrumentation — HPLC with Diode Array Detection, Gas Chromatography with FID, HPTLC, FTIR with ATR, ICP-MS, Dumas combustion nitrogen analysis, and standard FDA Bacteriological Analytical Manual culture methods — orchestrated through a documented 10-process Quality Management System with LIMS-based sample traceability. There is no developer-facing API or AI/ML automation layer; the service is fundamentally labor-and-instrument-intensive fee-for-service testing.

CTLA's business model is transactional fee-for-service, with per-sample unit pricing (e.g., $90 Dumas protein, $200-$300 HPTLC botanical, courier fees from free to $36 depending on county and sample count). Distribution is primarily direct via the company website with online scheduling, supplemented by its own courier in the Wasatch Front (Utah County and SLC County) and mail-in submission from out-of-state clients. CTLA also generates indirect demand through partnerships with NSF International and Underwriters Laboratory (UL), which direct GMP-certified manufacturers to CTLA for ongoing compliance testing, and through alignment with Amazon's Certificate of Analysis documentation requirements for dietary supplements sold on its platform. The customer base is fragmented across three primary verticals (supplements, food, cosmetics) with no disclosed enterprise anchor relationships.

Name

Contract Testing Laboratories of America

Legal name

Contract Testing Laboratories of America

Website

https://ctlatesting.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Contract Testing Laboratories of America (CTLA) is an FDA-registered, ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited analytical chemistry laboratory in Spanish Fork, Utah providing third-party microbiology, identity, heavy metals, vitamin, and stability testing for dietary supplement, food, and cosmetics manufacturers nationwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Analytical Laboratory Testing Services

NAICS

Testing Laboratories and Services (54138), Testing Laboratories and Services (541380)

SIC

Services-Testing Laboratories (8734), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Food Safety Certification Bodies (ISO 22000, FSSC 22000, BRCGS, SQF) (AFALAAAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Regulatory Compliance Testing (Microbiological, Chemical, Allergen) (AFALADAA), Regulatory Consulting & Compliance Program Management (FDA/USDA/EFSA) (AFALADAC), Labeling & Claims Compliance Review (Nutrition, Allergen, Country-of-Origin) (AFALADAF), Supplier Approval, Verification & Food Safety Risk Management (GFSI-aligned) (AFALADAH), Sanitation & Hygienic Design Compliance (SSOPs, GMPs) (AFALADAJ)

Keywords

• Analytical laboratory testing
• Dietary supplement testing
• Food safety testing
• Cosmetic testing services
• Microbiology laboratory

Headquarters

HQ city

Spanish Fork

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Laboratory Testing Services: CTLA generates revenue through fee-for-service laboratory testing across multiple testing categories including microbiology, identity/purity, heavy metals, nutritional panel, stability, allergen, and vitamin testing. Customers pay per sample or per test type based on published pricing or custom quotes. Testing services are offered for dietary supplements, food, cosmetics, and pet products. The company also offers rush testing options for an additional fee.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Contract Testing Laboratories of America (CTLA) is an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited and FDA-registered analytical laboratory that provides third-party contract testing services for the dietary supplement, food, and cosmetics industries. Its offerings span microbiology, identity/purity (FTIR, HPTLC), heavy metals (ICP-MS), protein (Dumas), vitamin, allergen, nutritional panel, stability, water activity, and viscosity testing to verify regulatory compliance under DSHEA, FDCA, GMP, and California Prop 65, and to generate Certificates of Analysis for retailers and certification bodies.

Product overview

CTLA offers a unified laboratory testing services platform for dietary supplements, food, and cosmetics industries. The core service portfolio consists of three primary testing categories (Supplement Testing, Food Testing, and Cosmetic Testing) supported by specialized analytical testing services including Microbiology Testing, Identity Testing (FTIR/HPTLC), Heavy Metals Testing (ICP), Protein Testing, Allergen Testing, Vitamin Testing, Stability Testing, Water Activity Testing, Moisture Content Testing, HPLC Analysis, Gas Chromatography, and Viscosity Testing. Services are offered à la carte, allowing clients to select individual tests or combination packages based on their regulatory and quality requirements. The company operates as an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited, FDA-registered facility providing third-party testing to support GMP certification and Amazon documentation requirements.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Dietary Supplement Testing Third-party testing services for dietary supplements and ingredients following the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), evaluating safety, identity, purity, potency, and labeling compliance for vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs, botanicals, enzymes, and other supplement products.
• Food Testing Services Comprehensive food testing services including microbiology, heavy metals analysis, nutritional panel testing, allergen testing, and contamination screening for fresh, packaged, and processed human and pet food products.
• Cosmetic Testing Full-service cosmetics testing required by the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), including in vitro toxicology, microorganism testing, heavy metals detection, stability and shelf-life testing, preservative efficacy testing, and viscosity testing for cosmetic products.
• Microbiology Testing Microbiological testing including Total Plate Count (TPC), Yeast and Mold (YM), Salmonella, Total Coliforms, E. coli, Staph Aureus, and Pseudomonas, following FDA Bacteriological Analytical Manual methods for product safety verification.
• Protein Testing (Dumas Method) Dumas method protein analysis using AOAC standards 992.15 and 992.23 for FDA-required nutritional label verification, priced at $90.00 per sample, with capacity of approximately 190 samples per day and 4-minute per-sample runtime.
• Allergen Testing Food allergen testing for major allergens including peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, shellfish, gluten, and soybeans, plus environmental swab testing for cross-contamination verification.
• HPTLC Botanical Identity Testing High-performance thin-layer chromatography for botanical identity and purity testing, covering botanicals including Ashwagandha, Curcuma Longa, Fenugreek Extract, French Maritime Pine bark, Garlic extract, Gotu Kola, Silibum Marianum, and Vaccinium Schisadra, with 3-20 minute run times and 5-10 pg detection sensitivity, priced $200-$300 per sample.
• ICP-MS Heavy Metals Testing Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry for trace detection of arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead at extremely low concentrations, supporting California Prop 65 compliance for dietary supplements, food, and cosmetics.
• HPLC Analysis with Diode Array Detection High-performance liquid chromatography with Diode Array Detection for separating, identifying, and quantifying compounds including vitamins, cannabinoids, amino acids, CoQ10, curcuminoids, and other nutritional components.
• Gas Chromatography (GC) Testing Gas chromatography with Flame Ionization Detector for volatile compound analysis, fatty acid testing, and residual solvent detection using polar and nonpolar capillary columns.
• FTIR Identity Testing Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy for quick confirmation analysis of raw materials and identification of organics, inorganics, and polymers using ATR crystals for direct testing of liquids and soft solids.
• Nutritional Panel Testing FDA-required nutritional labeling verification including fat content, carbohydrates, protein, cholesterol, sodium, vitamins, and minerals analysis to support Nutrition Facts panel compliance.
• Water Activity (aw) Testing Measurement of free water availability using chilled mirror dew-point methodology to determine microorganism growth potential and shelf-life stability of food, supplements, and cosmetics in approximately 5 minutes per sample.
• Moisture Content Testing Oven-drying and gravimetric moisture analysis using OHAUS equipment to determine total water content for quality control and regulatory compliance of food, supplements, and cosmetic products.
• Viscosity Testing Viscosity testing for food, cosmetic, and dietary supplement products to ensure final product texture and thickness meet consumer expectations and quality specifications.
• Stability and Shelf-Life Testing Shelf-life determination and stability testing to establish best-use dates and ensure nutritional value retention throughout product lifespan for dietary supplements, food, and cosmetics.
• Vitamin Testing Identification and quantification of individual vitamin content (A, B, C, D, K and others) in dietary supplements and food products using HPLC analysis.
• Preservative Efficacy Testing Testing to verify the effectiveness of preservatives in cosmetic and food products against microbial contamination, supporting product safety and shelf-life claims.

Quantifiable outcome

• Protein analysis in approximately 4 minutes per sample with capacity of 190 samples per day using Dumas method
• +3 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature11 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• AmazoncoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 November 2020CTLA has streamlined processes to meet Amazon's documentation requirements for dietary supplements sold on Amazon.com. Amazon requires all dietary supplements sold on their platform to submit a Certificate of Analysis (CoA) from an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory. CTLA's testing generates the required CoA documentation for Amazon sellers.
• NSF International (National Sanitation Foundation)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCTLA provides testing services for manufacturers with GMP certification from NSF International. CTLA conducts regular testing on supplement products and dietary ingredients to determine continued compliance with NSF certification requirements. NSF International is a third-party certification body that certifies dietary supplement manufacturers for GMP compliance.
• Underwriters Laboratory (UL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCTLA provides testing services for third-party GMP certification for Underwriters Laboratory (UL). Once a company becomes UL certified, CTLA performs regular testing on their supplement products and dietary ingredients to determine continued compliance with UL certification.
• Perry Johnson Laboratory Accreditation (PJLA)coreOthersCTLA holds ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation through PJLA, which provides annual third-party evaluation of CTLA's Quality Management System. PJLA accreditation validates CTLA's technical competence and enables the lab to serve clients requiring ISO-accredited testing.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• ALS Limited: ALS operates a global life sciences and food/pharmaceutical testing division with overlapping nutritional, contaminant, and stability testing capabilities that compete for the same regulated-industry clients as CTLA.
• Eurofins Scientific: Eurofins is the world's largest food, supplement, cosmetics, and environmental testing laboratory network, with an extensive menu of analytical chemistry and microbiology services that directly overlaps with CTLA's core offerings across all three of CTLA's regulated verticals.
• Bureau Veritas: Bureau Veritas runs a sizable Consumer Products and Agricultural Commodities testing business covering food safety and cosmetics testing, directly comparable to CTLA's chemistry and microbiology service lines.
• Intertek: Intertek provides a broad portfolio of testing and certification services to the food, cosmetics, and consumer products industries, competing head-on with CTLA for third-party analytical work and quality assurance testing.
• SGS: SGS is a global inspection, verification, testing, and certification company with a sizable food, cosmetics, and life sciences testing practice that competes for the same regulated-industry testing contracts CTLA serves.

Direct peers

• Certified Laboratories: Certified Laboratories is a U.S. contract testing lab focused on food, cosmetics, and personal care product testing, offering overlapping microbiology, chemistry, and stability testing services comparable to CTLA's portfolio.
• Pace Analytical Services: Pace Analytical is a U.S.-focused network of environmental, food, and life sciences testing laboratories with similar analytical chemistry and microbiology capabilities, serving manufacturers and brands across regulated verticals much like CTLA.
• Microbac Laboratories: Microbac is a U.S. contract testing laboratory offering food, dietary supplement, and consumer product testing with ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, directly comparable to CTLA's core regulated-industry chemistry and microbiology menu.

Emerging players

• Element Materials Technology: Element is a large testing services platform with a growing life sciences and consumer products practice; it competes for analytical chemistry and contaminant testing work that overlaps with CTLA's supplement and cosmetics offering.

Others

• NSF International: NSF is a third-party certification body for dietary supplements that refers ongoing compliance testing to CTLA; it also runs its own laboratory testing operations, making it both a channel partner and a partial competitor in supplement testing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/CTLATesting
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/contract-testing-laboratories-of-america

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Contract Testing Laboratories of America