Independent laboratories and Heavy Metal Tested certification

Quality teams often open a certification conversation by asking which laboratory they will be sent to. That is the wrong first question. Heavy Metal Tested is a certification program, not a laboratory. The laboratory produces a measurement. The certification program licenses a mark against a published standard.

This page is for quality, regulatory, and food-safety teams who need that split in writing. It does not name laboratories. It is not a lab-shopping guide. It is not a sale of certification to laboratories. It is not a preferred-vendor list.

The split that keeps claims honest

A laboratory produces a result under its own quality system. A certification program decides whether that result supports a licensed mark. When those jobs collapse into one organization, overclaims get easier and reviews get harder.

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. Certification is valid one year, with annual retesting. If a product does not meet the standard, the mark is not licensed. The program does not claim that a product is safe.

Read what Heavy Metal Tested certification is and lot testing versus certification.

Why ISO/IEC 17025 is the language on this page

ISO/IEC 17025 is the international standard for the competence of testing laboratories. Naming that standard is a competence statement. Naming a laboratory in this content would be an endorsement this page is not making. If your current laboratory already holds that accreditation, bring the fact to eligibility. If it does not, that is a facts conversation, not a ranking of vendors.

This page will not publish a preferred-vendor list. It will not score named laboratories. It will not imply a government agency requires this certification.

What "independent" means here

Independent means the measurement is not the brand grading its own homework, and not the certification program operating the bench. It does not mean any third party with a logo. It does not mean a government agency ran the test. It does not mean the product is safe. It is not an absence claim.

What laboratory partners should not expect

This is not a recruitment page for laboratories. It is not a promise of sample volume. It is not a co-branded seal a laboratory can put on its own website as if it were the certifier. The mark is licensed to products that meet a published subcategory standard, not to laboratories.

Questions from quality and regulatory teams sit on what QA and regulatory teams ask. The first conversation sits on eligibility, not an application.

How brands should bring laboratory context

• Bring the accreditation status you already have.
• Bring the matrices you actually run: purees, cereals, snacks, drinks, supplements.
• Do not ask this page to name a laboratory in writing.
• Do not treat a current certificate of analysis as a licensed mark.
• Do not use an absence claim. Do not imply a government agency requires this certification.

When a product is in scope: 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; recertify annually with retesting.

Eligibility is the first conversation. It is not an application and not a close.

FAQ

Is Heavy Metal Tested a laboratory? No. It is a certification program. Testing is coordinated through a qualified independent ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory.

Which laboratory will we use? Testing is coordinated through a qualified independent ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory. This page does not name laboratories.

Can an in-house laboratory certify the product? No. A certification mark is licensed by the certification program against a published standard. In-house measurement is not that license.

Does an ISO/IEC 17025 report mean the product is certified? No. That report is a measurement. The mark is licensed only when the product meets the published subcategory standard.

Does certification mean the product is safe? No. The program does not claim that a product is safe.

How should a brand start? A 30-minute eligibility conversation. It is not an application and not a close.

Next step

If you own the laboratory relationship on a US infant-food or children's supplement line, book a 30-minute eligibility conversation. Bring accreditation status and the SKUs that actually sell. The laboratory and the certifier stay on separate lines of the brief. Eligibility is not an application and not a close.