How much lead is in your greens powder? What tests show

The clearest public greens-powder example here is Organifi because the COA translates heavy metals into mcg per serving. For Green Juice lot SIGJ19823AM, dated 09-11-23 and expired 08/2025, the public COA reports lead at 1.09 mcg/serving and marks it above the 0.5 mcg/serving specification. Organifi Green Juice COA

That Organifi number does not tell you the lead level in every greens powder. It tells you what one public COA reported for one lot of one product, and it shows why serving-level disclosure matters for a daily powder. Organifi Green Juice COA FDA lead in food, foodwares, and dietary supplements

The externally hosted AG1-branded document is useful only as a historical, lot-limited example. It reports that expired lot 5208010 passed a heavy-metals panel, with specifications in ppm rather than measured mcg per serving, but it names no laboratory and its publisher chain could not be authenticated. It is not current buy evidence or a current-lot guarantee. Externally hosted AG1-branded lot document

ConsumerLab's public 2023 release adds category-level evidence. It says ConsumerLab tested spirulina, chlorella, and greens supplements and found several products with amounts of lead unsuitable for regular consumption by children or pregnant women. The public page names products included in the review, but the product-by-product amounts live inside the member review. ConsumerLab greens supplement release

ConsumerLab's AG1 page is worth reading carefully. It says AG1 can potentially contain significant amounts of lead and other heavy metals, but it points readers to the paid review for how much ConsumerLab found. NutriScore cites that public warning without treating a member-only number as public data. ConsumerLab AG1 page

PPM and ppb are concentration units. They matter, but they are not always enough for a person deciding whether to drink one scoop every day. FDA evaluates lead risk by looking at toxicity, exposure, and vulnerable subpopulations, so the serving amount and use pattern matter alongside the concentration. FDA lead in food, foodwares, and dietary supplements

That is why a buyer-useful COA should report lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury in both concentration terms and micrograms per serving. If a brand only publishes passes our standard, the buyer still has to trust the hidden math. FDA 101 dietary supplements FDA lead in food, foodwares, and dietary supplements

The serving conversion is especially important for greens powders because serving sizes differ across products. A low ppm number with a large scoop and a higher ppm number with a tiny serving can mean different daily intake numbers. FDA lead in food, foodwares, and dietary supplements

Be careful with this question because not every benchmark means the same thing. FDA says there is no known safe level of exposure to lead, but it also uses interim reference levels of 2.2 mcg/day for children and 8.8 mcg/day for females of childbearing age when evaluating dietary exposure. FDA lead in food, foodwares, and dietary supplements

California's Prop 65 warning threshold for lead is much lower than those FDA interim reference levels: the California Attorney General FAQ explains that a product can meet federal composition standards and still need a Prop 65 warning if exposure exceeds 0.5 mcg of lead per day. California Attorney General Prop 65 FAQ

Those numbers are not interchangeable. FDA's interim reference levels are dietary exposure benchmarks used by FDA; Prop 65 is a California warning law; and a brand's internal spec is a company or certification threshold. For a daily greens powder, NutriScore treats them as context, not as a simple safe/unsafe switch. FDA lead in food, foodwares, and dietary supplements California Attorney General Prop 65 FAQ

Pregnancy and childhood raise the evidence bar. FDA says the most serious effects from lead can occur during active brain development, including in utero, infancy, and early childhood, and ConsumerLab's public greens release describes some findings as unsuitable for regular consumption by children or pregnant women. FDA lead in food, foodwares, and dietary supplements ConsumerLab greens supplement release

Risk varies with the product, amount, and pattern of exposure. NutriScore assigns more confidence when a brand publishes recent product-specific numbers instead of only a badge or customer-service assurance. FDA says dietary supplement firms are responsible for safety and labeling, while FDA generally does not approve supplements for safety and effectiveness before sale. FDA 101 dietary supplements

A good COA starts with identity: product name, lot or batch number, manufacturing or expiration date, lab name, and test date. The externally hosted AG1-branded document names lot 5208010, manufacturing date 01/2025, expiration 01/2026, and says the results apply only to the lot or batch tested, but it does not name the laboratory. Externally hosted AG1-branded lot document

A better COA then gives buyer-readable contaminant numbers. Organifi's public Green Juice COA does this by listing lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury in mcg/serving for lot SIGJ19823AM. Organifi Green Juice COA

The ideal version gives both: ppm or ppb for lab comparison, plus mcg per serving for daily-use math. It also separates lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury instead of hiding them under one heavy metals line. FDA lead in food, foodwares, and dietary supplements

Brands should publish current finished-product COAs for every meaningful lot alongside any general testing policy. FDA says it does not approve dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness before sale, so brand-side documentation matters more in this category than it would for an FDA-approved drug. FDA 101 dietary supplements

NutriScore's preferred public table shows lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury; lot number; test date; method; lab; ppm or ppb; mcg per serving; and the benchmark used. That is an editorial disclosure standard rather than a legal minimum. FDA lead in food, foodwares, and dietary supplements

The best brands should also explain what happens when a lot fails a spec, how old the posted COA is, and whether the posted document is representative annual testing or the actual lot being sold. The externally hosted AG1-branded document explicitly says results apply only to the lot or batch tested, which is the right limitation to disclose even though its publisher and laboratory chain is unauthenticated. Externally hosted AG1-branded lot document

Public testing does not produce one lead number that covers every greens powder. NutriScore therefore uses recent finished-product testing with serving-size math as its editorial standard for evaluating routine-use disclosures. FDA lead in food, foodwares, and dietary supplements

Organifi's public COA shows why this matters: one named Green Juice lot reports a serving-level lead result and labels it above the California Prop 65 limit. The externally hosted AG1-branded document shows a weaker historical disclosure: pass/fail against ppm specs for one expired lot, no exact measured mcg/serving value, no named laboratory, and an unauthenticated publisher chain. Organifi Green Juice COA Externally hosted AG1-branded lot document

NutriScore editorial standard: third-party tested starts the review. Higher-confidence disclosure identifies a recent lot, the lab, lead/cadmium/arsenic/mercury results, and serving-size math. FDA 101 dietary supplements FDA lead in food, foodwares, and dietary supplements