Raisin Bran Cereal (Post)
Corn Flakes (Kellogg's)
Uncle Sam Cereal (Attune Foods)
Flax Plus Multibran Flakes Cereal (Nature's Path)
Special-K Cereal (Kellogg's)
Crunchy Rice Cereal (Enjoy Life)
Ezekiel 4-9 Golden Flax Cereal (Food For Life)
Coconut Granola Cereal (Nature's Path)
Heart to Heart Cereal (Kashi)
Whole O's Cereal (Nature's Path)
Kix Cereal (General Mills)
Cheerios (General Mills)
Puffins Peanut Butter Cereal (Barbara's)
Crunchy Flax Cereal (Enjoy Life)
Metals analysis tests conducted via ICP-MS and are only valid for the lot numbers mentioned here. These data are offered in the public interest for the purpose of promoting consumer choice for healthy food. See full disclaimers at the bottom of this page.
How are products selected to be included in these tests?
We select and purchase the most popular products in each category based on what is available on store shelves and offered by online retailers.
How can manufacturers update their lab results with new products?
Our goal is for these charts to accurately reflect the most up-to-date products which are available in the marketplace. As manufacturers release new products and we acquire them for testing, old data "rolls off" the chart so that the chart is as up to date as we can reasonably manage.
Why are some products missing from the charts?
These charts are re-created on a frequent basis based on the data we have available and ready to publish. At times, if we notice something unusual in the test results, we may delay publishing a certain product in order to conduct further validation testing. Certain types of products may have digestion difficulties which require re-digestion. At other times we are awaiting delivery of products we have ordered but which have not arrived. Laboratory results can be delayed by acts of God, bad weather, power outages or even running out of Argon gas in the middle of an ice storm (yes, that actually happened due to a faulty gauge). We do the best we reasonably can to work in the public interest to publish meaningful, timely results that help consumers make informed choices.
What levels of heavy metals are considered good or bad?
The number of micrograms of heavy metals each person wishes to consume or avoid is their own personal decision. Although there is no real disagreement that heavy metals bioaccumulate in the human body and are toxic at a sufficient level, there is wide disagreement on what quantity of each heavy metal is safe to consume on a regular basis. Generally speaking, most companies insist their products are safe regardless of our findings. Most well-informed consumers use the data presented here to attempt to minimize their dietary exposure to heavy metals.
How can we know your results are accurate?
We test each sample a minimum of three times for accuracy. We conduct key validation testing with outside labs including a university lab runing ICP-MS. Our instrumentation is certified by our manufacturers, our external standards are traceable to NIST, and our methodologies are based on EPA-published laboratory protocols. We archive all samples for future validation. Our ICP-MS process uses frequent blanks, calibration checks and other quality control standards which are customary in ICP-MS laboratory methodologies. If you do not trust our results, you are welcome to send your own product samples to any competent lab that uses ICP-MS instrumentation. At $150 - $300 per sample test, this is how you can know for sure that our data are accurate.
Do you offer commercial lab testing for manufacturers?
No, we do not. If you are interested in laboratory testing for heavy metals, we recommend (but cannot vouch for) the following third-party labs:
Eurofins (www.eurofins.com)
IEH Laboratories & Consulting Group (www.iehinc.com)
DISCLAIMER AND TERMS OF USE: All data from the Consumer Wellness Center is licensed by Natural News, which has been granted permission for publication. Data was acquired via ICP-MS with detection limits of low ppb (from 1 ppb - 10 ppb, depending on the element). All testing conduced by the Consumer Wellness Center.
The conclusions and findings that appear on this page reflect the Consumer Wellness Center's research at the time of publication. In light of evolving market conditions, subsequent product reformulations, and other factors, they may no longer be current. The Consumer Wellness Center makes no representations or warranties about any of the products that may appear on this page. The Consumer Wellness Center hereby disclaims all warranties with regard to any of the products that may appear on this page, including express, statutory, implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular use.
JOURNALISTS AND BLOGGERS: You are granted permission to quote this data in the context of a story, provided you credit the researcher (Mike Adams, the Health Ranger) and provide a clickable link to the appropriate page on labs.naturalnews.com. For print publications, you may simply print the appropriate URL. YOU MAY NOT REPRODUCE THIS DATA IS ITS ENTIRETY OR REPUBLISH A LARGE DATA SET. This data is protected under copyright law. Please contact us if you wish to seek permission to use a large data set.
MANUFACTURERS: YOU MAY NOT USE THIS DATA WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM NATURAL NEWS. ANY USE OF THIS DATA BY MANUFACTURERS TO CLAIM THAT NATURAL NEWS OR THE HEALTH RANGER HAS "VALIDATED" OR "CERTIFIED" YOUR PRODUCTS TO CONTAIN LOW LEVELS OF TOXIC ELEMENTS IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN AND WILL BE AGGRESSIVELY POLICED. WE DO NOT OFFER VALIDATION OR CERTIFICATION SERVICES FOR THIRD-PARTY PRODUCTS. IF YOU CITE, ON YOUR WEBSITE, THE RESEARCH RESULTS WE HAVE DETERMINED FOR YOUR PRODUCT, YOU MUST LINK TO OUR PRODUCT PAGE ON LABS.NATURALNEWS.COM SO THAT READERS CAN CONFIRM YOUR CLAIM. YOU MAY NOT USE THE WORDS "CERTIFIED" OR "VERIFIED" OR "VALIDATED" TO DESCRIBE OUR TESTING OF YOUR PRODUCTS. You may, however, use phrases such as,
Testing of our product was conducted at the Natural News Forensic Food Labs by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, and the results for lot number X are as follows:Lead: X ppb
Cadmium: X ppb
Mercury: X ppb
Arsenic: X ppb
Aluminum: X ppb
Copper: X ppb
Cesium: X ppb
Data shown here is only valid for the lot numbers shown here. All foods have natural variability from lot to lot (and even from season to season). Natural News in no way implies that the data shown here will be accurate across the entire inventory of this product, everywhere in the world. Products were purchased locally or online and may not represent the metals concentrations found in other lot number sold at different locations.
Items shown here were not tested for every possible contaminant. For example, they were not tested for pesticides, BPA, PCBs, and so on. They were only tested for selected elements.
ICP-MS analysis numbers are generally considered "good" if they are within +/- 10% of actual numbers. Every sample run will exhibit some small variability, even in the same lab. Different labs will almost always produce different results due to many factors, including lab humidity, elevation from sea level, digestion methods, purity of digestion acids, condition of ICP-MS equipment, electronic balance calibration, sample normalization accuracy and so on.
A low level of metals does not automatically mean the item being tested is safe to consume. There are many other possible contaminants and nutritional factors for which we do not test.
A high level of metals does not automatically mean the item being tested is dangerous to consume. Each individual's ability to detoxify toxic elements depends on a large number of factors including genetic predisposition, environmental exposure to toxic elements, diet, lifestyle, whether the person exercises and sweats on a regular basis, water consumption, and so on. If you are concerned about a particular item shown here, please discuss it with your physician or naturopath.
This information is provided as a public service, in the public interest. No person should rely on this data alone in making key decisions about their dietary intake or lifestyle choices. All such decisions should be made in conjunction with a qualified physician or naturopath who has a working knowledge of environmental toxins and nutrition.
