Heavy Metals in Plant-based Nutrition Products

Your Safety Comes First at VEGA

At VEGA, your health and trust matter most. That’s why safety and quality are always our top priorities.

Recently, you may have seen headlines about heavy metals in food and supplements, including plant-based protein powders and shakes. While these articles draw attention, many fail to provide the right context: heavy metals are naturally occurring in our food supply, and government agencies worldwide set strict thresholds to keep daily intake safe.

We know these conversations can raise questions. That’s why we want to be transparent about why heavy metals sometimes appear in plant-based foods, what those numbers actually mean, and how VEGA ensures our products are safe, clean, and effective.

Why Heavy Metals Show Up in Plants

When people hear about heavy metals, they often imagine them as additives or contaminants. In reality however, the trace amounts found in plant-based foods occur naturally. As plants grow, they absorb minerals from soil, water and their environment – including essential nutrients like magnesium and iron but also trace amounts of heavy metals. This is true whether you’re talking about spinach, beans, grains, peas and many other foods.

Because VEGA products are plant-based, trace levels may occasionally be detected in testing. This is normal and expected in plant-based nutrition worldwide. Importantly, detectability does not equal danger. Modern testing is highly sensitive and can detect metals at very low levels, meaning we can find metals far below levels that present any risk to health. What matters is how those levels compare to established safety standards.

What Are the Safety Standards?

Government agencies and third-party experts have carefully studied heavy metals and established safety thresholds for daily intake which include but are not limited to California Proposition 65, NSF standards and international guidelines (including U.S. FDA, European EFSA, and WHO). A consistency amongst all, is that instead of banning foods with trace amounts (which would eliminate most of our fruits, vegetables, and grains), regulators set clear limits and thresholds that are considered safe for ongoing daily consumption.

In some instances, California’s Proposition 65 sets thresholds that trigger a consumer warning. These levels are not bans, but disclosure requirements, and are set far below international safety standards to provide extra margin of caution and provide appropriate notices of exposures. These warnings are intended to be informative and educational to consumers, with specific health exposure concerns. In some cases, courts examine direct products and lines to determine appropriate presence and warning requirements under the scope of Proposition 65, often called consent decrees. These requirements can become legally binding on companies and likewise present a legal standard for the product and/or lines to adhere to for labeling and testing purposes.

How Does VEGA Test for Heavy Metals?

Unlike some brands, we test both our ingredients and finished products. At VEGA, our accredited third-party labs use technology capable of detecting heavy metals at trace levels down to parts per billion (ppb) and calculate exposure by examining single micrograms per day.

Because science has evolved to detect such tiny amounts, it’s possible to measure metals at levels far below any regulatory threshold, and far below what poses a health risk. This means our testing is both highly sensitive and highly protective.

Bottom line: VEGA does not release any product that would exceed safe or legal limits of heavy metals and maintains a quality assurance protocol for ALL products that require compliance with applicable regulatory and legal standards.

Are VEGA Products Safe to Consume Daily?

Yes. How results compare to those established safety standards is the key to comprehending risk to health. For example, VEGA’s results are well below NSF Certified for Sport® and Proposition 65 consent decree limits (stringent, enforceable standards). Finished product is tested by accredited third-party labs to confirm safety and quality. Additionally, VEGA products that are NSF Certified for Sport® go through extra independent testing trusted by athletes worldwide. Learn more here.

Our Ongoing Commitment

We share your values of safety, transparency, and trust. That’s why we’re:

Exploring more consumer-friendly ways to share safety information.
Actively working with farmers and suppliers to reduce natural uptake of heavy metals.
Reformulating where possible and testing every batch of finished product before it reaches you.

We also remain vigilant: our goal is always to further reduce presence of naturally occurring heavy metals while delivering effective plant-based nutrition you count on.

The Bottom Line

Heavy metals are naturally present in plant-based foods, but safeguards, from farming practices to government regulations to our own rigorous testing, ensure you don’t consume unsafe amounts. At VEGA, we go further than required: every shake or scoop you enjoy is designed to be safe, effective, and trustworthy.

FAQs

1. Why are there trace amounts of heavy metals in VEGA products?
Because plants absorb minerals as they grow, including unavoidable trace amounts of heavy metals like lead and cadmium. The levels found in VEGA are consistent with everyday foods like cereals, vegetables, and grains.

2. Are the levels safe?
Yes. Our products test well below enforceable standards such as NSF Certified for Sport® and Proposition 65 consent decree limits. Daily use of VEGA products remains well within safe intake levels.

3. Do you test your products for heavy metals?
Absolutely. Both ingredients and finished products are tested by independent, accredited labs. No product is released unless it meets our strict standards.

4. Why don’t you publish your test results online?
Raw lab data can be technical and vary slightly by batch, which can be confusing out of context. We’re working on consumer-friendly ways to share results more transparently.

5. What steps are you taking to reduce levels even further?
We partner with suppliers to source from regions with lower uptake, reformulate where possible, and continually invest in new testing and research to minimize levels while maintaining nutritional integrity.