Annual recertification for baby-food brands: one year, then test again

A licensed mark that never comes back for review is a souvenir. Heavy Metal Tested certification is valid one year, with annual retesting. That is the approved term. This page is for Quality, Regulatory, and Operations teams who need to put that term on a calendar without inventing week-count process promises.

It does not publish pricing. It does not publish a rush clock. It does not claim that a government agency makes this mark a mandate.

Why a year is part of the claim

Infant-food supply chains move. Crops change season. Suppliers change. A measurement from last year is a measurement from last year. A parent looking at a mark this year is being told the product still meets a published subcategory standard under a current license. Annual retesting is how that sentence stays true.

Heavy Metal Tested is an independent Paleo Foundation certification that evaluates food, supplement, and consumer products against a published standard and licenses a mark to products that meet it.

It is a certification program, not a laboratory. Testing is coordinated through a qualified independent ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory. The Heavy Metal Certified mark is licensed only to products that meet the published subcategory standard. If a product does not meet the standard at recertification, the mark is not licensed. The program does not claim that a product is safe.

See what Heavy Metal Tested certification is and when a product does not meet the standard.

What recertification is not

• It is not a substitute for lot testing during the year. Lots remain a quality-system job. See lot testing versus certification.
• It is not a statutory filing. California testing-and-disclosure duties, where they apply, stay with the brand.
• It is not automatic permission to keep last year's on-pack art if the license is not current.
• It is not a promise about how many days a file will take.

Who owns the calendar internally

Quality owns the sample and the laboratory relationship. Regulatory owns the claim. Operations owns pack inventory that still shows the mark. Legal owns what happens if a SKU will not be recertified. Those four conversations should happen before the term ends, not after a retailer photo.

Eligibility for a new SKU, and planning for recertification of an existing one, both start as conversations rather than as a cold application. Eligibility.

Process, restated for the annual cycle

Apply; coordinate testing through a qualified independent ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory; license the Heavy Metal Certified mark to products that meet the published subcategory standard; keep it current with annual retesting.

If the product no longer meets the standard, the mark is not licensed. That is the program working.

FAQ

How long is certification valid? One year, with annual retesting.

Does lot testing during the year replace recertification? No. Lots are measurement. Recertification is the license.

What if we discontinue a SKU? Stop using the mark on that product. Certification is product-specific.

What if we miss the standard at recertification? The mark is not licensed.

How do we start, including first-year brands? A 30-minute eligibility conversation. It is not an application and not a close.

Next step

If you own quality, regulatory, or operations for a US infant-food line and need the one-year term on a real calendar, book a 30-minute eligibility conversation. Bring the SKUs you would want current a year from now.