Food, Beverage, & Supplement Analytical Services
Brooks Applied Labs offers analytical services for heavy metals and elemental speciation for the food, beverage, and supplement industries with some of the lowest quantitation limits commercially available. With over a decade of experience – ranging from authoring the AOAC 2015.01 method for heavy metals testing in foods, helping certify a new reference material for heavy metals and arsenic species as part of an international collaboration, to being one of the first commercial laboratories in the US to be deemed highly proficient in heavy metals testing by the Baby Food Council – clients can trust the quality of the results we provide.
Some of the services we offer include:
Heavy Metals Analysis
The presence of trace levels of heavy metals in food, beverages, and dietary supplements has come under heightened scrutiny due to increasing consumer awareness and a wave of recent regulatory actions. In particular, U.S. and international agencies have intensified efforts to reduce exposure to toxic elements such as lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium — especially in products consumed by vulnerable populations like infants and young children.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded its Closer to Zero initiative, aiming to lower allowable levels of heavy metals in foods to the lowest achievable levels through science-based, enforceable standards. In 2024, the FDA emphasized the need for enhanced control points in food manufacturing to prevent contamination. These updates reflect a broader regulatory trend toward proactive risk management and tighter enforcement, including increased scrutiny of imported food products.
Inorganic Arsenic Analysis
While many food and supplement products contain detectable levels of arsenic, not all forms of arsenic pose the same health risks or fall under regulatory scrutiny. Over two dozen arsenic species have been identified in various foods. Differentiating between toxic and non-toxic forms through speciation analysis is now more critical than ever — especially as global regulatory agencies tighten their focus on inorganic arsenic, the most harmful form.
Inorganic arsenic is classified as a known human carcinogen by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). In response to evidence of its health risks — including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and developmental effects — regulatory bodies have taken significant steps, such as the action levels established by the US FDA for inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereals and apple juice.
Brooks Applied Labs offers specialized testing services to distinguish inorganic arsenic from the dozens of other known arsenicals in a wide range of sample types, including:
- dietary supplements and raw ingredients (e.g., BARI-1 Baby Cereal Course RIce Flour, KRIK-1 Cricket Flour, CAME-1 Canola Meal)
- food (e.g., rice, fish, fruits, vegetables, and seaweed)
- beverages (e.g., fruit juices, bottled waters, beer, wine, and plant-based drinks)
Methylmercury Analysis
It is well known that mercury is a potent toxin that can severely impair the human nervous system, so monitoring mercury levels in dietary supplements, foods, and other consumer products has long been a priority. While demonstrating that natural products are free of mercury is important, testing for the specific form known as methylmercury is often recommended since it is a powerful neurotoxin.
Mercury that reaches rivers, lakes, or the ocean can be converted by microorganisms into methylmercury, which is bioaccumulative in plants and wildlife. The methylmercury concentrations of larger fish can be more than a million times greater than the surrounding water, and individuals are potentially at risk of health effects when consuming .
More critically, methylmercury is especially detrimental to the neurological development of fetuses, and it is recommended that women who are pregnant or breastfeeding be selective about the types and quantity of fish they consume to avoid those commonly high in methylmercury.
Brooks Applied Labs is recognized as a world leader in analyzing for methylmercury concentrations and has decades of experience providing those services.
California Proposition 65 Analysis
Since 1986, when Californians approved an initiative to address growing concerns about exposure to toxic chemicals informally known as Proposition 65 or “Prop 65”, the list of chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm has grown to more than 800 unique substances.
California Proposition 65 requires businesses (manufacturers, distributors, & retailers) to notify consumers through proper labeling if their products contain any of the listed chemicals above what has been determined to be a safe level of daily exposure (known as “Safe Harbor” levels). Of particular concern in foods, beverages, and supplements is the presence of the heavy metals arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury (often called “the Big Four”).
Brooks Applied Labs offers businesses heavy metals analyses to certify that the levels in their products are below the limits established by Prop 65. We also offer metals speciation analyses to differentiate between what have been deemed safer metals species (e.g., the arsenobetaine commonly found in fish) and more toxic species such as inorganic arsenic or methylmercury.
Given that Prop 65 Safe Harbor limits are expressed not in terms of concentrations but rather in permissible intake levels (micrograms per day), ensuring that products are compliant can require extremely low quantitation limits (especially for those with large serving sizes). Brooks Applied Labs is experienced with these considerations and has designed our methods precisely for these purposes.
Brooks Applied Labs offers these and other specialty analyses with expedited turnaround times and some of the lowest quantitation limits in the industry. Please contact us today to discuss your analytical needs with one of our scientists!
Webinar
On February 8, 2022, IEH’s Dr. Donald Zink and BAL’s Ben Wozniak hosted a live webinar addressing recent events, regulatory standards, and risks associated with heavy metals and other contaminants in food processing.
Topics Covered
- Staying Ahead of the Curve: Heavy Metals Regulatory Standards
- Why Food Companies Need to Addressing High Levels of Contaminants in Products
- How to Mitigate Risks of Toxic Elements Contamination
- Comparing Historical Findings to Current Detection Limit Requirements
- What’s Happening: Current Events and Recent Incidents Involving Toxic Elements
Webinar Recording