Editorial policy

Independence

• Sponsored placements: 0. No maker or retailer pays to appear, rank, or be described a particular way.
• Free products accepted: 0. We don't request or accept samples, and would disclose it on the page if that ever changed.
• Paid links: 0. Every outbound commercial link is an ordinary affiliate link, marked as such, to the retailer where you'd buy the product anyway.
• Rankings are decided by the published rubrics on the methodology page, before any link is added. Commission rates are not an input.

Claims we don't make

• That we tested, used, wore, packed, timed or owned a product. We haven't, and every page says so.
• That the author holds a credential — nutrition, fitness, medical or otherwise. He doesn't, and the byline doesn't imply one.
• That a product is "medically reviewed", "expert-approved", or backed by "our panel". There is no panel.
• Any price, price band or discount in copy. Prices come only from a live layer that removes itself when stale.
• Any rating, review count or quote we didn't source. We do not reproduce customer reviews from retailers or review sites.
• Health outcomes. Food-safety figures are quoted from the USDA and FDA; nothing on this site is dietary or medical advice.

How sources are chosen

Maker product and support pages first, linked on every specification. Retailer listings only where the maker publishes nothing, and labeled. USDA FSIS and FDA for food safety, USDA FoodData Central for nutrient data. Competitor articles are never cited as the source of a fact. Where a page blocked our reader, the card says so and quotes only what the search index carried from the maker's own wording.

How the site is written

Every page is written and published under the author's name and responsibility, from research he directed and checked. Tools are used for drafting and formatting; the sourcing, the scoring and the decisions are his, and errors are his to correct.

Corrections

Report an error to mike@blackironathletics.com or through the contact form. We aim to correct factual errors within seven days, note the correction in the page's "Corrections & updates" log where one exists, and update the page's modified date when the content actually changed.

Update cadence

• Roundups and comparisons: quarterly re-check of availability and specs; discontinued products swapped.
• Guides: sources re-verified twice a year.
• Trust pages: reviewed annually or on change.
• A page's modified date changes only when its content does — never for a price refresh.

Affiliate income

The site is funded by Amazon Associates commissions and nothing else. The full statement, including how the links work and what they cost you (nothing), is on the affiliate disclosure. Every page with a commercial link discloses it above the first link.