At Hive, our goal is to help reduce your mental load so that you can feel good about what you’re buying without needing to do lots of work and research.
We do that through our Hive Five Certification.
Just like you, we’re concerned about heavy metals in our food. Our goal is to help you feel informed about the choices you’re making for yourself and your family.
Let’s get started.
Why are there heavy metals in products to begin with?
Heavy metals like lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury are non-essential elements that may be toxic at elevated and/or long-term exposure levels. They naturally exist in air, water, and soil due to environmental processes like wildfires and volcanic eruptions or from human activities like driving cars and manufacturing. Plants and animals can absorb them from the environment, although most foods contain very low to non-detectable levels. Some ingredients have a higher risk of absorbing these metals due to their type or how they are grown.
Heavy metals can also come into contact with ingredients or products during processing. For example, when ingredients are left to dry in the sun, they can be exposed to heavy metals present in the air from nearby roads, factories, or urban areas, or on contaminated surfaces such as lead-painted tables.
What is the solution? How do we get to better?
The key for the future is our soil health. The healthier our soil, the fewer heavy metals to begin with. Agricultural practices like regenerative are leading the way to improve soil health. So over time, as more and more farms choose these practices, crops will be increasingly less likely to uptake heavy metalss
In the interim, we believe in the following principles to help address safety concerns: 1. Batch-testing and adhering to the guidelines set by trusted organizations who have done the work to understand the science and risk. 2. Working to improve practices where heavy metal exposure may take place and 3. Arming individuals with the information to make the best decisions for themselves.
Although the U.S. sets general limits for heavy metals, there is a lack of robust national regulatory standards for finished food products. The FDA does not require testing for heavy metals on ingredients or finished products. That’s why we look to the E.U. Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and California Prop 65, whose thresholds are at least 1,000x lower than what is known to cause harm.
We envision a world where every single item is tested; neutral third party agencies create standards and monitor for compliance to those standards; packaged foods companies make test results available to customers on the batch level; and there are technologies that can remove heavy metals from both raw ingredients and finished goods. We’ll continue to work with partners who are leading the way in these areas.
How the Hive Five addresses Heavy Metals
We feature information about heavy metals in two areas within the Hive Five: Ingredient Integrity and Responsible Production. We include this information when relevant on the Ingredient Integrity and Responsible Production sections of a product page.
Ingredient Integrity
We prioritize brands who choose organic or regenerative ingredients
These brands are prioritizing the health of the soil that the ingredient is grown in and avoiding agricultural inputs that may increase heavy metal contamination, including synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and sewage sludge. These practices can reduce the amount and bioavailability of heavy metals in the soil, thus reducing exposure for the ingredients themselves.
We share when a brand is choosing low risk ingredients We highlight products that choose ingredients with a lower risk of heavy metal contamination. That does not mean these ingredients are more or less nutrient dense, simply that they are less likely to absorb heavy metals in their growing or processing, or they are sourced from regions less likely to be contaminated. And that’s where responsible production comes in.
Responsible Production
We require brands in high risk categories to meet California’s Proposition 65 standards
We prioritize brands who test for heavy metals, and we share the testing that our brands take part in. For high concern categories* this testing is required. We use strict limits available from reputable sources (the European Union and Prop 65) to ensure that there is no risk of toxicity from these products. Prop 65 maximum allowable dose levels (MADLs) are 1,000 times lower than the levels that may cause harm, as determined by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA).
Our standards are ever evolving and we plan to help push the industry forward by creating more access to testing, conducting independent testing as needed, and ultimately making testing a requirement for all brands on Hive. For now, please reference a product’s page to learn more about their testing.
Categories and ingredients of highest concern:
|
Category |
Risk |
Hive Requirement |
|
Baby Food |
Contaminants like heavy metals are especially hazardous to infants and children |
✓ Clean Label Project Verified for 200+ contaminants ✓ Demeter Biodynamic (preferred) and USDA Organic |
|
Rice |
High risk of arsenic absorption, especially in brown rice or rice grown in the southern U.S. |
✓ CA Prop 65 compliance: Naturally Occurring Arsenic in Rice ✓ South Asian and CA origin preferred; avoid TX, LA, & AR origin |
|
Seafood |
Widespread mercury bioaccumulation, especially in tertiary species like swordfish, shark, and bigeye tuna |
✓ Prioritize FDA-EPA Best Choices species ✗ No species from FDA-EPA Choices to Avoid |
|
Spices |
Potential lead contamination during drying or grinding process or lead chromate adulteration to add color |
✓ CA Prop 65 Compliance & EFSA compliance for lead in spices ✓ Free from fillers or additives like lead chromate |
|
Chocolate |
Cadmium absorption, especially in volcanic soils; Potential lead contamination during drying or fermentation |
✓ CA Prop 65 compliance: Chocolate Products (varies by cacao content) |
|
Supplements |
Minerals, herbs, and protein powders may be contaminated with various heavy metals depending on ingredient sources |
✓ CA Prop 65 compliance |
Safer Pracies
When brands go above and beyond to reduce their exposure to heavy metals outside of testing - eg. through improvements to their supply chain or production practices - we will share them here as well.
I want to avoid heavy metals as much as possible for myself or my family. How do I do that? Look for brands on Hive that:
- Choose ingredients that are certified Organic, Regenerative, Demeter Biodynamic or similar. We organize products by items with Regenerative Certifications, Regenerative Ingredients and those with certifications in progress (Check out our Get Regenerative collection). And you can find all of our products that support better growing practices (Organic, Non-GMO and Regenerative) in our Health Growing Practices collection. Each of these certifications is tagged on the relevant products, so you can search for them easily. Although these certifications do not necessarily guarantee lower heavy metal levels, better agricultural practices that prioritize soil health and avoid synthetic fertilizers and pesticides may reduce the overall amount and bioavailability of heavy metals.
- Test and fall within the EU & CA Prop 65 Guidelines. You can look for products that are Certified by Clean Label Project and NSF Contents Certified, to know they meet or exceed these guidelines.
- Feature certifications like MadeSAFE and the Clean Label Project. All the products that carry these certifications are tagged with them, so you can easily search for them on the site.
Above all, continue to eat a healthy, balanced diet: healthy individuals who eat a balanced diet tend to be less likely to absorb heavy metals and more likely to quickly excrete them. There is some research indicating that dietary nutrients Vitamins A, C, and E, polyphenols, curcumin, zinc, selenium, calcium, and iron, catechin compounds may help your body naturally address negative impacts like arsenic toxicity, lead exposure or cadmium absorption. If this is of interest to you, you can shop for those supplements here.
Just because a product may have a higher risk for heavy metals doesn’t make it bad. Testing is the way to know it’s still safe. It’s also important to understand what heavy metal level limits mean and your potential exposure based on the foods you eat and how often you eat them, especially for those with higher risk. For most people, the amount you would need to consume to have concern for toxicity is well beyond what you would eat. And foods with ingredients like sweet potatoes, spinach and carrots have loads of other health benefits.
If you have more questions or would like some help choosing products, please reach out to our Customer Care team.
Our Promise to you
We know that this area is still an emerging one. As standards and science change, so too will our requirements for the Hive Five. We will continually update our standards to match the latest findings. Over the coming months we will be introducing deeper dives into each category with helpful information on how to choose the brands and products that are right for you.
Status as of 9/19/24
Complete:
Our standards are complete and have been uploaded to hivebrands.com. Any item that did not meet our new standards (there were only a few!) has been discontinued.
All of our product pages to reflect the above information based on information provided by our makers. The team will continue to follow up with makers directly for additional details.