The only panel that checks the label
Every other test on a Certificate of Analysis asks whether something bad is present. The assay — the potency panel — asks the opposite question: is the good thing present, in the amount the label says?
It’s the panel that catches fairy dusting, where a marquee ingredient appears on the front of the bottle in an amount too small to be doing much of anything. It’s also the most expensive panel to run, which is why it’s the one most often missing.
The result is expressed as a percentage of label claim. 100.9% means the lab found 100.9% of what the panel promised. Under 100% and the batch is short. Over 100% and it’s slightly generous — normal, because manufacturers deliberately overfill a little so that a batch is still inside spec at the end of its shelf life.
The industry-standard acceptance window is 90.0% to 110.0% of label claim. Anything inside that is a pass.
Our Focus Strips, in full
This is the only product in our range with a complete assay, and it’s the strongest set of numbers we have. Lot KJ112501:
| Ingredient | Label claim per strip | Specification | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hericium erinaceus (Lion’s Mane) | 30 mg | 90.0–110.0% | 105.3% |
| Grifola frondosa (Maitake) | 25 mg | 90.0–110.0% | 102.8% |
| Cordyceps militaris | 25 mg | 90.0–110.0% | 101.6% |
| Lentinus edodes (Shiitake) | 20 mg | 90.0–110.0% | 100.9% |
Four species, four assays, all four inside the window and all four slightly over 100%. Each was also identity-confirmed by LC-MS against a reference standard first, so the assay is measuring the right organism.
The same document carries the physical checks that decide whether any of that reaches you:
| Test | Specification | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Average weight | 260 mg ± 7.5% (240.50–279.50) | 260.10 mg |
| Moisture content (Karl Fischer) | 3.0–6.0% | 4.30% |
| Disintegration time | Not more than 60 seconds | 46 seconds |
That is what a complete potency workup looks like, and we’d rather show it than describe it.
Now the part that matters more
Our Focus Strips carry the best-verified label in our range. They also carry the smallest mushroom dose in our range — 100 mg total across four species, per strip, with a maximum of one strip a day.
Both of those sentences are true at once, and holding them together is the entire lesson of this page.
An assay verifies that the label is honest. It does nothing to make the dose large. A batch can be 105.3% of a very small number. The percentage tells you the manufacturer is not lying to you about the milligrams; the milligrams are a separate question, and it’s the one that actually determines whether a product is doing anything.
This is why we won’t let a potency result do work it can’t do. Every mushroom dose in our lineup sits below the doses used in the published human trials on those ingredients — in some cases far below — and a verified 25 mg of cordyceps is still 25 mg. Verification is a statement about integrity. It is not a statement about effect, and we make no product-level promise on the back of it.
Anyone showing you an assay percentage as though it were evidence a product works has quietly swapped one question for another.
Our Lion’s Mane, and a different kind of specification
Our capsules carry a partial version of this, and it’s worth reading because the specification is shaped differently.
Lot 2023-13956 reports total polysaccharides against a label claim of 400 mg, with a specification of ≥100% and a result of 401.78 mg, by UV-VIS.
Note that the spec is a floor, not a window — at least the claim, with no stated ceiling — where the Focus Strips assay is a two-sided range. Both are legitimate ways to write a specification. They’re answering slightly different questions, and a brand comparing “101.6% against 90–110%” to “401.78 against ≥400” as though they were the same measurement is flattening a real distinction.
The same document reconciles the powder itself at 1 g against a 1 g claim, and carries the physical set:
| Test | Specification | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Total weight | 702–858 mg | 787 mg |
| Disintegration | Not more than 30 minutes | 5 minutes |
| Count per container | Not less than 60 | 60 |
Two honest caveats on that polysaccharide number, both of which we’ve made elsewhere and will keep making. It is a total polysaccharide figure, not a beta-glucan figure, and the difference matters more than it sounds — starch is also a polysaccharide. And our second Lion’s Mane lot, B24H001, has no assay at all, so potency verification on this product is not a per-lot certainty either.
Three of five have nothing
The Energy & Cognition Drops, the Reishi Relax Gummies and the Cordyceps Energy Gummies have no potency data on their Certificates of Analysis. Those documents are microbiological.
So for three of our five products we can tell you the batch wasn’t contaminated, and we cannot show you a measurement confirming the milligrams on the panel are the milligrams in the bottle. That’s the honest state of it, and it’s the reason we do not make a range-wide claim about verified potency — the weakest document sets the brand-level ceiling, always.
How to use this on any bottle
Ask whether an assay exists before asking what it says. Most products don’t have one. A brand that can produce a percentage against label claim for the specific lot in your hand is already unusual.
Check the window. 90–110% is standard. A much wider window, or no stated specification, is a weaker promise dressed as the same thing.
Check what was assayed. In a multi-ingredient formula, an assay on one hero ingredient leaves the rest unverified. Our Focus Strips assay all four, which is the exception rather than the rule.
Then look away from the percentage and at the milligrams. This is the step people skip. Once potency is verified, the interesting number is no longer the percentage — it’s the dose, and how it compares to the doses in the research on that ingredient. A perfectly verified small dose is a small dose.
And if the panel itself is what’s confusing you rather than the paperwork, how to read a mushroom supplement label starts one step earlier — with proprietary blends, which hide the milligrams so thoroughly that no assay result can put them back.