Guides / EU heavy metal limits
EU heavy metal limits for supplements, explained
Updated 4 November 2026 · BatchAssay editorial
In short
- Regulation (EU) 2023/915 caps heavy metals in food supplements as sold: lead 3.0 mg/kg · cadmium 1.0 mg/kg · mercury 0.1 mg/kg.
- Arsenic has no EU limit for supplements — results are usually judged against an informal 1.0 mg/kg reference.
- The limits are maximums, not targets: clean products typically test at a few percent of them, or below detection.
The four metals
| Metal | EU maximum (mg/kg) | Why it ends up in supplements |
|---|---|---|
| Lead (Pb) | 3.0 | Soil uptake by botanicals; historic adulteration of turmeric with lead chromate |
| Cadmium (Cd) | 1.0 | Accumulates in cacao, algae and leafy botanicals; mushrooms concentrate it from substrate |
| Mercury (Hg) | 0.1 | Marine chain: fish and krill oils, kelp, sea-sourced minerals |
| Arsenic (As) | none — 1.0 reference | Rice, seaweed, shilajit and other soil/marine products; the organic form in seaweed is less toxic than inorganic, which most reports don't separate |
Limits apply to the product as sold, in mg per kg of product. A capsule product tested at 0.5 mg/kg lead is at 17% of the legal maximum.
How to read a result
Three questions, in order. Is the unit mg/kg (= ppm)? Some labs report µg/kg (ppb) — a thousand times smaller; misreading this is the most common mistake. Is the result quantified or "< LOQ"? Below the limit of quantification is the best outcome: nothing measurable. What percentage of the limit is it? On every verified BatchAssay product page we draw that percentage as a meter per metal — green under 25%, orange to 75%, red above — because "passed" at 95% of a limit and "passed" at 2% are different purchases.
The arsenic gap
The regulation's omission of arsenic for supplements matters for exactly the categories where arsenic is likely: rice protein, kelp and seaweed, spirulina and chlorella, shilajit and other mineral-rich soil products. For those categories we treat an arsenic result as required for verification, and we show it against the 1.0 mg/kg reference several accredited labs use — labelled as a reference value, never as a legal limit. A product can be legally compliant and still carry an arsenic number you would want to see before buying.
FAQ
Why is there no EU arsenic limit for supplements?
Regulation (EU) 2023/915 sets inorganic-arsenic limits for rice and some other foods, but food supplements were left out of scope. Several accredited labs report supplement arsenic against an informal 1.0 mg/kg reference instead. BatchAssay shows arsenic against that reference, clearly labelled as a reference and not a law.
Is a result at 50% of the legal limit good or bad?
Legal, but worth seeing. The limits are maximums, not targets — most clean products test far below them, often under the lab's detection limit. That is why we show a meter per metal instead of a bare pass/fail.
What does '< LOQ' mean on a report?
Below the limit of quantification: the metal was not present in any amount the method can reliably measure. For heavy metals, '< LOQ' is the best possible result.
Do these limits apply to products sold in the UK?
The UK retained the EU contaminant framework after Brexit with its own amendments; for the metals on this page the practical limits are the same. Reports from UKAS-accredited labs follow the same structure.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) 2023/915, Annex I — maximum levels for lead, cadmium and mercury in food supplements
- EFSA scientific opinions on dietary exposure to inorganic arsenic
- BatchAssay methodology — how these limits drive our verification tiers
Information only, not medical advice. Methodology