Heavy Metal Tested vs Clean Label Project: Different Jobs

Quality and regulatory teams evaluating a heavy-metal claim often put two names in the same briefing: Heavy Metal Tested and Clean Label Project. They are not the same program. This page exists to keep the jobs separate. It is not a ranking. It does not copy scores. It does not invent scores. It does not claim one program is superior. It does not claim retailers accept one and not the other.

If you needed a winner, you will not get one here. If you needed a rule for what each object actually is, keep reading.

Two programs, two artifacts

Clean Label Project is a separate organization. In public, it is known for testing consumer products and for publishing ratings and related communications that brands and parents encounter in search. That work, whatever a given product's result, is Clean Label Project's work. This page does not reproduce those ratings. It does not treat them as ours. It does not audit them.

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.

A rating a parent can browse is one kind of public object. A mark licensed against a published subcategory standard is another. A brand may encounter both. Encountering both is not a reason to mash them into a single claim.

See what Heavy Metal Tested certification is and what the Heavy Metal Certified mark means.

What this comparison will not do

• No copied or invented numerical scores.
• No "better than" language.
• No claim that a retailer prefers either program.
• No claim that a government agency requires either program.
• No use of Paleo or Keto history as Heavy Metal Tested proof.
• No statement that a product is safe because it appears in either conversation.

Those limits are the point of the page. Comparison pages go wrong when they become scorecards.

Side-by-side, in the language reviewers use

A lot test is a third object. See lot testing versus certification. None of these three replaces a statute.

How a brand should talk about either

If you participate in Clean Label Project's work, say that in language that organization actually licenses. If you hold a Heavy Metal Certified mark, say that the product was evaluated against a published standard and that the mark is licensed because it met that standard. Do not blend the sentences. Do not put one program's halo on the other program's pack.

Language that survives review lives on communicating heavy-metal testing for baby food. The short version: describe the standard you actually stand behind, describe the mark you actually hold, and stop.

The HMTc process, when a SKU 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.

FAQ

Is Heavy Metal Tested the same as Clean Label Project? No. They are different programs with different public objects.

Which one is better? This page does not rank them.

Do you publish Clean Label Project scores here? No.

Does either program mean a product is safe? Heavy Metal Tested does not claim that a product is safe. Do not borrow a safety conclusion from any third-party rating either.

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

Next step

If you own quality, regulatory, or compliance for a US infant, child, family food, or children's supplement line, book a 30-minute eligibility conversation. Bring the SKU list and whatever other program language is already on the pack. We will talk about Heavy Metal Tested on its own terms.