data from California AB 899, NYC NPSD, EU Safety Gate, Pure Earth, King County, CPSC, FDA, HBBF · CC-BY-SA 4.0
The lead database
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.
11,683unique products
66,049measurements
9open-license sources
13categories
4heavy metals (Pb, As, Cd, Hg)
Where the data comes from
Nine open-license sources, each with its own scope, methodology, and history. Click any to read the full story behind that source.
AB 899
California AB 899 (baby food disclosure)
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HBBF 2019
Healthy Babies Bright Futures (2019 baby food report)
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HBBF 2025
Healthy Babies Bright Futures (2025 rice report)
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NYC NPSD
NYC Department of Health non-pharmaceutical surveillance database
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King County
King County (WA) hazardous waste program
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Pure Earth
Pure Earth global lead exposure surveys
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CPSC
US Consumer Product Safety Commission recalls
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FDA
US Food and Drug Administration recalls
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EU Safety Gate
European Union Safety Gate (RAPEX)
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By category
Each card shows the number of unique products tested in that category. Click to open the full sortable table.
baby food
1,002 products tested →
Jarred and pouched baby food, infant cereals, formula. Dominated by California AB 899 disclosures.
spices
2,085 products tested →
Turmeric, cumin, paprika, chili, and other ground spices. Lead chromate adulteration is the canonical story here.
cookware
2,340 products tested →
Aluminum pots, ceramic-coated pans, painted dishes, glassware. Mostly imported, mostly via store-shelf surveys.
cosmetics
1,542 products tested →
Kohl, surma, sindoor, lipstick, eye shadow. Some traditional cosmetics test as nearly pure lead compounds.
supplements
840 products tested →
Vitamins, herbal supplements, ayurvedic remedies. Lead contamination from soil and processing.
toys
1,372 products tested →
Painted toys, jewelry kits, plastic figurines. CPSC recalls plus EU safety-gate alerts.
food (other)
420 products tested →
Rice, cereals, candies, sauces. Anything edible that is not baby food or spice.
electronics
753 products tested →
Cables, chargers, holiday lights. Mostly EU safety-gate alerts on solder and PVC.
paint
500 products tested →
House paint, art paint, industrial coatings. Pure Earth global surveys lead the count.
jewelry
369 products tested →
Fashion jewelry, costume metal, kids charm bracelets. Some items are nearly pure lead.
candy
297 products tested →
Mostly imported candies tested by NYC. Tamarind candies and chili-based sweets dominate.
religious & ceremonial
122 products tested →
Sindoor, kumkum, holy powders, religious medals. Used in worship, often imported, often very high in lead.
vapes
41 products tested →
Small but unique. EU safety-gate alerts on disposable vapes containing lead and nickel above EU limits.
About units
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.
Sources × measurements
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 |