11,683 unique consumer products tested for heavy metals, across 66,049 individual measurements across thirteen searchable categories. Pulled from nine open-license sources, normalized to ppb (parts per billion). Lead is the focus, but arsenic, cadmium, and mercury are in here too because the four metals are usually tested together. (Plus a further 1,448 uncategorized rows in the raw CSV, see download below.)
I pulled this together because the data exists, it's public, but it's scattered. California has the AB 899 baby food disclosures. NYC has been pulling spices, cosmetics, supplements, cookware, candies, religious products, and toys off bodega shelves since 2008. the EU runs an alert system that monitors imported electronics, toys, jewelry, and cosmetics more intensively than any US agency. CPSC and FDA only publish reactive recall notices. King County in Washington has tested a ton of cookware. Pure Earth looks across the whole globe. Nobody had stitched it into one place.
So here it is. One csv per category. One master csv with everything. Attribute it to the original sources, not to me, I just normalized the units and stitched the rows together.
Nine open-license sources, each with its own scope, methodology, and history. Click any to read the full story behind that source.
Each card shows the number of unique products tested in that category. Click to open the full sortable table.
Every concentration in the database is normalized to ppb (parts per billion by mass). That's identical to µg/kg (micrograms per kilogram). I picked ppb for the display because it survives uppercase styling and most readers know the term. For context:
1,000 ppb = 1 ppm = 1 mg/kg = 0.0001%
10,000,000 ppb = 10,000 ppm = 1% by mass
1,000,000,000 ppb = 1,000,000 ppm = 100% by mass (pure lead compound)
So a turmeric sample at 1,000,000 ppb = 1,000 ppm = 0.1% lead by mass. Still extremely high for food (FDA action level for spices is around 50 ppm) but not pure lead. The actual pure-lead entries in this database (kohl, surma, religious amulets) are at 980,000,000 ppb and above.
Each cell is the number of test measurements from that source. Darker green = more measurements. AB 899 dominates baby food because California requires per-lot disclosure: a single brand can generate hundreds of measurements. Click any category to open the full table.
| Category | AB 899 | HBBF 2019 | HBBF 2025 | NYC NPSD | King County | Pure Earth | CPSC | FDA | EU Safety Gate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| baby food | 47,802 | 456 | · | 17 | 1 | 1 | · | 2 | · | 48,279 |
| spices | · | · | · | 3,477 | 215 | 1,100 | · | 50 | 1 | 4,843 |
| cookware | · | · | · | 646 | 967 | 1,790 | 40 | 33 | 47 | 3,523 |
| cosmetics | · | · | · | 725 | 382 | 905 | 1 | · | 185 | 2,198 |
| supplements | · | · | · | 1,775 | 21 | 30 | 2 | 46 | 8 | 1,882 |
| toys | · | · | · | 591 | 173 | 417 | 247 | · | 432 | 1,860 |
| food (other) | · | · | 554 | 221 | 20 | 29 | 5 | 43 | 20 | 892 |
| electronics | · | · | · | 1 | 1 | · | 11 | · | 828 | 841 |
| paint | · | · | · | 39 | 3 | 470 | 86 | · | 1 | 599 |
| jewelry | · | · | · | 52 | 174 | 5 | 20 | 2 | 269 | 522 |
| candy | · | · | · | 277 | 19 | 66 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 374 |
| religious & ceremonial | · | · | · | 133 | 4 | 44 | 1 | 1 | · | 183 |
| vapes | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | 53 | 53 |
| Total | 47,802 | 456 | 554 | 7,954 | 1,980 | 4,857 | 415 | 183 | 1,848 | 66,049 |
