We may be able to perform non-routine analytical testing services, for example, detection of a specific adulterant or toxic compound, or NMR or DNA characterization, that fall within the domain of any of our partnering North Carolina research labs’ expertise.
Please inquire about non-routine testing services by e-mail at support@usbsl.org or by phone to 828-333-5124.
Bent Creek Institute, Inc. (BCI) is an independent 501(c)3 organization that is legally separate from each partnering USBSL lab, yet which manages all USBSL client relations and COA issuance functions. BCI operates a secure and confidential on-line client sample submission, management, and tracking database. BCI will physically receive in samples at a separate location from the USBSL testing labs. After receiving and qualifying each sample, BCI will physically blind, prep, and barcode the sample into standard non-descript sample transport containers, then deliver the blinded samples to each lab, as needed. The testing labs will never know who the original client was and therefore will have no incentive to alter or fabricate any test results. Further, no academic or independent non-profit laboratory director or technician at USBSL partnering labs has any personal incentive to risk destroying their professional reputation by engaging in fraudulent testing activities. Finally, BCI carries out no analytical testing itself and cannot alter or fabricate the results provided by the USBSL partnering labs on the client’s final COA, which is generated by the USBSL sample management database. Final review and signature by authorized BCI staff verifies that the original data provided by USBSL partnering labs matches the data generated on the client’s final COA.
It is the US Botanical Safety Laboratory. USBSL is a non-profit botanical ingredient testing and product development laboratory in North Carolina. USBSL offers botanical identity, microbials, metals, pesticides, and phytochemical testing services. USBSL anchors network of research and private institutional labs with core botanical expertise operated administratively by Bent Creek Institute, Inc. (BCI), which is based at The North Carolina Arboretum, an affiliate campus of the UNC system.
Our client services pricing matrix is available to approved clients. We offer pricing in certain testing categories for “standard” (7-12 day) and “expedited” (3-6 day) time frames from receipt of a client’s sample. To begin a new client approval process, please click on the “Client Services” button at our homepage (www.usbsl.org), then click “New Account” and complete the requested information. You can receive a PDF packet by e-mail that includes the current USBSL pricing matrix.
USBSL was launched as a collaboration between The North Carolina Arboretum Germplasm Repository, the BioNetwork Natural Products lab at ABTech, and the David H. Murdoch Research Institute. USBSL also works closely with N. C. State’s Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River, NC.