Buying Shilajit from India: Forms, Purity Tests and Import Checks for Trade Buyers

Shilajit is one of the easiest Ayurvedic products to sell and one of the hardest to buy well. Demand has grown quickly, and so has the volume of resin that is diluted, poorly purified or simply not what it claims to be. For a brand, the risk isn’t only a disappointing product; it’s a batch that fails a heavy metals limit after it has already been packed under your name.

This guide explains how the product is traded, how to prove a batch is what the supplier says it is, and what to check in your own market before you order.

What you’re actually buying

Raw shilajit is a dark, sticky exudate collected from rock faces at high altitude in the Himalayas. Before it can be used it is purified: dissolved in water, filtered to remove rock, sand and plant debris, and slowly concentrated back to a resin. The quality of that purification is where most of the difference between suppliers lies.

It is traded in four main forms:

Form	Notes for buyers
Purified resin	The traditional form, sold in jars. Ask for consistency (soft, firm) and moisture at the time of packing.
Powder or dry extract	Easier for capsules and blends. Ask what carrier, if any, is used, and how the extract is standardised.
Capsules and tablets	Check the shilajit content per serving and the excipients.
Gummies and drops	Popular in retail and often combined with other botanicals such as Ashwagandha. Check sugar content, gelling agent (gelatin or pectin) and shelf life data.

Questions that separate good suppliers from bad ones

• Where is it collected, and by whom? You won’t get GPS coordinates, but a serious supplier can describe the region, the collection season and who processes it.
• How is it purified? Water-based purification and filtration are standard. Ask what happens to batches that fail testing.
• Is the resin sold as it is, or blended? Some products are mixed with other ingredients or bulked out. Ask for the composition in writing.
• Which licence covers it? In India, shilajit for export is typically made under an Ayurvedic licence or an FSSAI licence, depending on how it is classified. The licence should match the product you are buying.

The tests that matter

Because shilajit is a mineral-rich natural material, contaminant testing is not a formality. For every batch, expect a Certificate of Analysis covering at least:

• Heavy metals: lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury, with the method (usually ICP-MS) and the limits used.
• Microbiology: total plate count, yeast and mould, and pathogens such as E. coli and Salmonella.
• Identity and composition: for example fulvic acid content, with the method stated. Different methods give very different numbers, so a percentage without a method tells you little.
• Moisture and, for resin, water-insoluble matter, which shows how well it was filtered.

For the first order, send a retained sample to an independent laboratory in your own market. If the supplier’s results and your lab’s results agree, you’ve learned something valuable about that supplier. If they don’t, you’ve learned something even more valuable, and cheaply.

If you sell in California, Proposition 65 warning requirements for lead are a frequent issue for mineral-rich supplements. Agree the target limits with your supplier before production, not after.

Import rules to check before you order

Shilajit’s status varies by market, and it is worth checking before you design packaging.

• United States: shilajit is generally sold as a dietary supplement. The FDA does not approve supplements before sale, but the factory must be registered with the FDA, the product must follow US labelling and manufacturing rules, and the importer has duties under the Foreign Supplier Verification Program. Any supplier selling “FDA-approved shilajit” is misdescribing it.
• European Union and United Kingdom: check whether your product needs authorisation under the novel food rules, using the European Commission’s Novel Food status catalogue and, for Great Britain, the Food Standards Agency. Contaminant limits for metals in food supplements also apply.
• Other markets: Canada, Australia and the Gulf states each have their own route for natural health products or supplements. Confirm the route, and the documents it needs, with your importer before you order.

Documents to ask for

• Batch Certificate of Analysis with methods and limits
• The manufacturing licence and, if claimed, GMP certificate for the producing site
• A product specification sheet
• For shipping: commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin and, where required, a free sale certificate

Our export documents checklist explains each one.

Red flags

• A price far below other quotes for “pure Himalayan resin”
• Results that read “complies” or “passes” with no figures
• No answer to how the product is purified
• Medical or performance claims on the supplier’s own packaging

Sourcing Shilajit with us

TrueSource Global sources purified Shilajit resin, powder and finished private label formats from producers we have assessed, with batch testing and export documents arranged before shipment. See our Shilajit page, or request a quote with the form and volume you need.