Twenty-two of the 23 products tested by CR had detectable amounts of lead, and more than two-thirds had unsafe levels of lead, according to the organization.
“About 70 percent of products we tested contained over 120 percent of CR’s level of concern for lead, which is 0.5 micrograms per day,” CR stated.
“The FDA can take action if it finds unsafe lead levels, but the lack of enforceable standards means it doesn’t happen nearly enough,” Brian Ronholm, CR’s director of food policy, said in a statement.
He said the FDA should establish enforceable limits for foods and supplements.
“The FDA does not comment on outside studies. The agency continues to follow gold-standard science to protect consumers,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, the parent agency of the FDA, told The Epoch Times via email.
An FDA spokesperson also told CR that it would review the findings from the testing “along with other data we have collected to better inform where to focus our testing efforts and enforcement activities.”
CR found Huel’s black edition, chocolate flavor, and Naked Nutrition’s Vegan Mass Gainer had the highest levels of lead per serving. Huel did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
A Naked Nutrition spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that the tested product is a weight gainer, so it has a larger serving size than standard protein powders.
“This difference means that comparing ‘per serving’ data across products with drastically different serving sizes does not provide an accurate, apples-to-apples comparison. When viewed on a per-gram basis, our results are consistent with other plant-based protein products,” the spokesperson said. “Naked Nutrition remains fully committed to transparency, science-based quality standards, and providing our customers with safe, high-quality nutrition products that meet or exceed all U.S. safety regulations.”
Other powders and shakes with unsafe levels, according to CR, included Momentous’s 100 percent plant protein and KOS organic superfood plant protein.
A Momentous spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email that the products CR tested have been discontinued. The spokesperson also said that its own testing found lower levels of lead than CR did.
A KOS spokesperson said that the amount of lead and metal in each serving of its protein powders is “significantly small.”
CR recommended seven powders and shakes with lower levels of lead, including Owyn’s Pro Elite High Protein Shake and BSN’s Syntha-6 Protein Powder.
A spokesperson for Owyn told The Epoch Times in an email that the company carefully sources all of its ingredients and that every ingredient “is compliant with all applicable state and federal safety standards.” BSN did not return an inquiry by publication time.
CR also stated that it detected cadmium and inorganic arsenic, two toxic heavy metals, at unsafe levels in three products.
CR first tested protein shakes in 2010. It detected lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury in some products.
In the new testing, the average level of lead was higher, and fewer products had undetectable amounts.
“It’s concerning that these results are even worse than the last time we tested,” Tunde Akinleye, the CR researcher who led the project, said in a statement.
