Heavy Metals In Beef Organ Supplements

There are a lot of concerns about heavy metal contamination in supplements. With increasing levels of pollution in the world, that concern is certainly warranted.

How To Test For Heavy Metals In Beef Organ Supplements

To detect heavy metals in beef organ supplements, the ideal testing method is ICP-MS, Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. Often, these results are shown in ppm (parts per million) or ppb (parts per billion), which does not provide helpful information. However, these results are often touted by websites and certain groups looking to scare people because they can make the numbers appear scary, which gets them more clicks, which in turn gets them more money. What matters is the amount of a heavy metal per daily serving. For example, if you ate fifty pounds of sweet potatoes every day, you would ingest a significant amount of heavy metals, but who actually eats fifty pounds of sweet potatoes every day? Yet, all too often, some online organizations claim that a particular supplement has a certain amount of ppb of lead, so it’s dangerous. However, if you look at how much lead that supplement actually had in a daily serving, most of those dangerous supplements contain no more lead or cadmium than ½ a cup of carrots. However, if those companies were honest and gave useful information, they wouldn’t be able to scare people anymore and wouldn’t get their clicks and money. One very popular organization, claiming to help keep people safe from lead, bases its safety limits on a law proposed by a legislator in one state that was not passed. It’s not based on any scientific standard or hard data, just a proposed law. That’s not how safety should be determined, but they have built an enormous following based on this and made a lot of money, making people scared of things they don’t need to be. The key takeaway is to disregard sensational headlines and focus on the actual amounts of heavy metals (total micrograms) per daily serving, rather than the scare tactics.

NXGEN Wholefoods Heavy Metal Testing

The Australian Government conducts testing to ensure that the beef organs used by NXGEN Wholefoods do not contain high levels of heavy metal contamination, using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. Limits for heavy metals are measured in mg/Kg (ppm) and are also regulated by FSANZ (Food Standards Australia New Zealand) for food products.  

The National Residue Survey (NRS) is the vehicle for testing and reporting results for Australian cattle. Samples and testing are conducted by the Australian Government Veterinary Officers, who collect meat samples randomly for testing, and these samples are sent to a third-party NATA-approved laboratory for testing and reporting results.  The cattle used by NXGEN Wholefoods have never had a non-compliance issue and have always tested below heavy metal limits. For reference, these are the limits measured in ppm (mg/kg): 

Antimony (ppm) <0.1 (This means one ounce, 30 grams, of fresh organ meat contains less than 0.003 mg)

Lead (ppm) <0.1 (This means one ounce, 30 grams, of fresh organ meat contains less than 0.003 mg)

Mercury (ppm) <0.1 (This means one ounce, 30 grams, of fresh organ meat contains less than 0.003 mg)

Arsenic (ppm) <0.05 (This means one ounce, 30 grams, of fresh organ meat contains less than 0.0015 mg)

Cadmium (ppm) <0.2 (This means one ounce, 30 grams, of fresh organ meat contains less than 0.006 mg)

These limits are lower than the World Health Organization limits.

In 2024 (the last full year of data available), 99.98% percent of beef and beef organ samples tested across the country by the Australian government were free of contaminants, including heavy metals, medications, pesticides, drugs, and hormones. Since 2013, every year has shown over 99% of thousands of samples were free of these contaminants. 100% of the samples from the regenerative farms NXGEN Wholefoods sources from were free of contamination.

We understand the skepticism of many in the US about trusting government testing, but it's important to keep in mind that in many countries, the government really does care about ensuring people are safe.

For reference, a cup of cooked beets averages approximately three ppm of lead, which is far higher than what would ever be found in a daily serving of any NXGEN Wholefoods Beef Organ supplements. One daily serving of Beef Organ Powder is three grams of freeze-dried powder, which is approximately equivalent to twenty-nine to thirty grams (one ounce) of fresh, raw organ meat. 

Based on the serving size and heavy metal limits enforced by the Australian Government, levels of heavy metals in NXGEN Wholefoods beef organ supplements are extremely low, but due to the limitations in testing sensitivity, it’s not possible to know that something contains zero heavy metals, as the test cannot detect levels below a certain threshold. 

The best way to ensure a supplement is free of high levels of heavy metals is to make sure the raw materials themselves are free of them.

With NXGEN Wholefoods beef organ supplements, you can be confident that heavy metal contamination is not an issue.

Cattle grazing in the Lake Eyre region of Australia.