We will help you to be compliant with EU "Maximum Levels"

Our testing services of heavy metals will help you to meet compliance with EU regulations to assure safety and consumer's health.

ServicesTest laboratoryChemical and physicalHeavy metals

Heavy metals in food

Metals, often referred to as heavy metals, are compounds found in the environment (e.g.: air, water, soil). They might occure naturally or from industrial and agricultural sources. According to the analysis of the RASFF data, Fish and Seafood have been the most impacted food matrix in 2020 with close to 80 notified events. 

The list of heavy metals include, among others:

  • arsenic (including inorganic arsenic) 
  • cadmium
  • lead
  • mercury
  • tin
  • chromium
  • uranium

Mercury, according to the analysis of RASFF data, was the most notified heavy metal in Europe in 2020 with more than 70 events. Moreover a strong increasing could be found in events linked to cadmium.

Severalstudies have been carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to assess the toxicity of heavy metals and the exposure to heavy metals. Recommended best practices were derived and continuous changes are introduced in the current regulations to decrease the Maximum Levels (MLs) for many matrices.

Ask our team to help you to identifiy heavy metals in your product and to adjust to latest changes.

Service packages

  • ​Quantification of heavy metals and elements
  • ICP-MS method
    • ICP-MS to meet/guarantee high sensitivity even in complex matrices and in baby food
  • IC-ICP-MS
    • IC-ICP-MS for arsenic speciation: differentiation of/between/within organic and inorganic arsenic
  • Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS)
    • Classical atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) - with graphite furnace or cold vapor​
  • Expert Services
    • Conformity and legal advice
    • Audits
  • Safety HUB
    • Our source analysis tool that monitors official bodies in 58 countries and dozens of online media sources around the world. An information system that keeps you informed of the latest safety incidents and alerts.

Webinars

Working Groups

  • Lebensmittelchemische Gesellschaft (LChG)
    • Elements and elemental species
  • DIN working group
    • Process contaminants and Elements
  • Working group §64 LFGB 
    • Element Analysis

Regulations

  • Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 
    • In the EU, Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 is setting maximum levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs. This Commission Regulation is establishing a list of foodstuffs that shall not be placed on the EU market if they exceed the limits of arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and inorganic tin.
  • New maximum levels: Regulation (EU) No. 2021/1317, Regulation (EU) No. 2021/1323
    • End of August 2021 regulation of the Commission determined new limits for cadmium and lead in foodstuffs.
    • The maximum levels of lead in the following food categories are reduced: Infant formulae and follow-on formulae marketed in powdered form; Processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children; Foods for special medical purposes intended specifically for infants and young children marketed in powdered form; Infant and young children's drinks sold as such, other than those mentioned in 3.1.2 and 3.1.4: marketed in liquid form or to be reconstituted according to the manufacturer's instructions, including fruit juices to be prepared by infusion or decoction; Offal of bovine animals, sheep, pigs and poultry, with different limits depending on the species of origin of the offal.Infant formulae and follow-on formulae marketed in powdered form; Processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children; Foods for special medical purposes intended specifically for infants and young children marketed in powdered form. Infant and young children's drinks sold as such, other than those mentioned in 3.1.2 and 3.1.4: marketed in liquid form or to be reconstituted according to the manufacturer's instructions, including fruit juices to be prepared by infusion or decoction; Offal of bovine animals, sheep, pigs and poultry, with different limits depending on the species of origin of the offal.
    • New maximum levels for lead are set for the following food categories: Infant formulae; Roots and tubers (excluding salsify, fresh ginger and fresh turmeric), bulbs, inflorescences and corms of the genus Brassica, kohlrabi, leguminous and stem vegetables or wild mushrooms, fresh turmeric, fresh ginger; Wine (including sparkling wine and excluding liqueur wine), cider, perry and fruit wine, produced from the fruit harvest of 2022; Aromatised wine, aromatised wine-based drinks and aromatised wine-product cocktails, produced from the fruit harvest of 2022; Liqueur wine made from grapes, produced from the 2022 grape harvest; Dried spices: fruit spices, root and rhizome spices, bark spices, bud spices, and flower stgma spices, seed spices; Salt.
    • New maximum levels for cadmiumare established for the following food categories: Different types of tree fruits and nuts, root and tuber vegetables, bulbs, fruiting vegetables, brassica vegetables, leaf vegetables and herbs, leguminous plants, young stems, mushrooms; Dried pulses and protein from dried pulses; Various oilseeds (e.g. rapeseed, peanuts and soya beans, linseed and sunflower seeds, etc.); Different cereals (e.g. rye and barley, rice, quinoa, wheat bran and wheat gluten, durum wheat and wheat germ, etc.); Foods for special medical purposes intended for infants and young children; Young children formulae; Baby food for infants and young children, marketed liquid or to be reconstituted according to the manufacturer's instructions, including fruit juices; Salt.
    • The maximum contaminant levels established for these products remain: Specific cocoa and chocolate products; Products of animal origin: meat and fish; Infant formulae and follow-on formulae (only the term "powdered infant formulae" and "liquid infant formulae" is replaced by "marketed as powder" and "marketed as liquid" respectively); Processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children; Food supplements excluding the food supplements referred to in the following item; Food supplements composed exclusively or mainly of dried seaweed, products derived from seaweed, or of dried bivalve molluscs.

 

To top