Expanded Heavy Metals Testing by ICP-MS: A More Complete Picture for Supplements, Food, and Botanicals

Overview

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Cambium Analytica's expanded heavy metals test gives a more complete heavy metals picture by determining 18 elements, including arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury, in food products, dietary supplements, botanicals, and active ingredients by ICP-MS with a collision/reaction cell. Results are reported per element in µg/g in 2 to 5 business days, and can be assessed against USP <232> permitted daily exposure limits or product-specific specifications on request. Test code HMUSP.

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Why Four Elements Is a Starting Point

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Targeted heavy metals panels typically focus on four commonly monitored elements: arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. They are also the four that USP <2232>, the chapter on elemental contaminants in dietary supplements, addresses. Raw materials of plant or marine origin, manufacturing steps, and container closure systems can all introduce elemental impurities, and those sources are not limited to four elements. An 18-element panel gives QA teams measured results for the wider set, which makes the picture of a product's metals more complete. For dietary supplement manufacturers, 21 CFR 111 calls for specifications on contamination limits without naming specific elements, so data on a wider set can help inform which elements a specification should cover.

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When an Expanded Panel Makes Sense

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An expanded panel is most useful when there is a reason to look past the core four. Qualifying a new supplier or a new lot of a botanical or marine-sourced ingredient is one. A change in processing equipment, a catalyst step, or a new packaging component is another. It also fits an ingredient whose process history is not fully known, an unexpected result that needs a wider look, or a specification being written or revised.

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Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead, and Mercury: The Core Four

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These are the elements most heavy metals programs start with. They can appear in products from environmental or material sources, which makes them the baseline for any heavy metals program on raw materials and finished goods.
Cobalt and Nickel: Elements Linked to Equipment and Catalysts
Cobalt and nickel can be present in products, for example through stainless steel equipment or catalysts, which makes them relevant to manufacturing process questions as well as raw material qualification.

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Thallium, Gold, Iridium, Platinum, and Rhodium: When a Process Adds Metals

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These elements occur at low natural abundance, so they matter most when a catalyst or process step introduces them. Measuring them gives a result for each, which is useful when an ingredient's process history is not fully known.

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Antimony, Barium, Chromium, Copper, Lithium, Molybdenum, and Tin: The Broader Elemental Profile

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These elements can enter products through raw materials, manufacturing, or packaging. Measuring them rounds out the elemental profile of an ingredient or finished product in the same analysis.

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Instrumentation

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Cambium Analytica runs this test by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) with a collision/reaction cell, in-house. The method references USP <233> for sample digestion and ICP-MS quantitation, and USP <232> permitted daily exposure limits are the reference for assessing results.

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Who Should Be Testing

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Dietary supplement brands and contract manufacturers verifying finished goods and incoming ingredients benefit from data on more than four elements. Botanical ingredient suppliers and active ingredient producers can document the elemental profile of what they ship. Food manufacturers use the panel to screen raw materials and finished products. Quality and regulatory teams writing or revising specifications get measured results to assess against USP <232> permitted daily exposure limits or product-specific limits.

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