Hey John!
Welcome to the forum and thanks for reaching out!
We’ve responded to this article a few times since it came out in October 2025. You can find the original forum thread here our Reddit response here, and a detailed article on our website here.
To sum things up, Consumer Reports compared products against California’s Prop 65 threshold of 0.5µg of lead per day, which is an exceptionally conservative warning level, created by taking the lowest observed effect level and dividing it by 1,000 as an added safety buffer. It’s a warning benchmark, not an internationally recognised danger threshold. Californians are no stranger to Prop 65 warnings, which can be found on restaurants, items of clothing, food items like coffee, nuts, etc.
Trace minerals like lead occur naturally in soil, which means tiny amounts are present in almost all foods grown in the ground, from vegetables and oats to rice and protein products. The important thing is the level, and Huel’s levels are well within internationally recognised food safety standards.
Huel’s independently tested lead levels are around 1.5-2.2µg per serving, and even Consumer Reports’ higher reported figure was 6.3µg. For context:
- EU benchmark: 270µg per serving
- NSF benchmark: 10µg per day
- Typical daily dietary intake from normal food: 20-80µg
The levels in Huel are safe and consistent with what you find in ordinary food. It’s also worth noting that Consumer Reports compared Huel to products with 1/3rd the serving size, in many cases (90g. vs 30g) and products that are protein powders, not meals. Being a meal, Huel requires a lot more plant material to account for carbs, fats, and fiber: rice, peas, tapioca, flaxseed, sunflower, coconut, etc.
I recommend the above articles for more detail! Let us know if you have any questions.