Lead in huel. consumer reports

Nutrition
1

After numerous questions regarding things like glyphosate and heavy metal safety, it has finally been released by an independent third party (Consumer Reports) that Huel Black contains dangerous levels of lead.

Be honest. How can it be possible that you have claimed your products have such low levels of heavy metals and then end up having the second highest levels in CRs 23 product test?

I have been a user of Huel for years off and on. This is disturbing and requires immediate explanation and transparency from Huel.

6 Likes
2

Extremely concerning… Probably why they stopped publishing their test results from batch tests. Would love to hear Huel’s comments on this.

4 Likes
3

Hey there! Thanks so much for reaching out.

We’ll come back in a bit with a more detailed response, but we need to check on a few things to get all the right information for you.

In the meantime, it’s important to know that trace amounts of lead naturally occur in many food ingredients. The levels in Huel products are well within internationally recognised safety limits and pose no health risk. We regularly test all our products through accredited independent laboratories to ensure they meet the highest standards.

2 Likes
4

I just read the report and as someone who has used Huel Black daily for years it’s beyond concerning…

IMG_2258
IMG_22581179Ă—1109 123 KB

2 Likes
5

Lead, Cadmium, etc. Well aware that these are naturally occuring but we would like to know the levels and independent testing would go a long way.

I’m particularly concerned with Huel White and H&S.

Kinda freaking out here. Huel could do right by releasing transparent data and agreeing to independent testing.

2 Likes
6

I came here directly after seeing the report. I actually switched to Huel because a previous report showed my previous powder had a high heavy metal content.

I am definitely going to need an official response to this or I’m going to be canceling my account.

“Some heavy metals are expected" is not a responsible response to Huel having over 1000% times the safe doses of heavy metals.

4 Likes
7

Hello all.

This was posted across on Reddit by Tim, but I wanted to share this here just so we are being transparent in our messaging.

Thanks for your patience. We know how important this is to you, and it is vitally important to us that we can give you the right information.

We want to firstly say that our products fully comply with international food safety regulations and are completely safe to consume.

There are very different recommendations in regards to lead levels. Looking at the report, they are using extremely conservative recommendations, based on California’s Prop-65, that has a huge safety margin built in, which makes the report much more alarming.

However, the levels of heavy metals in Huel products are well within the safety thresholds recognised by the UK, EU and the NSF (NSF is an independent US public health and safety organization that develops standards and certifies products for food safety).

  • EU - 270mcg per day

  • UK - 135mcg per day

  • NSF - 10mcg per day

We have done 17 tests in the last 3 years on Black Edition Powder alone and every result has been materially lower than the figures from Consumer Reports. These have all been done in independent, accredited laboratories.

Across those tests we average at 1.8mcg per serving. Whereas Consumer Reports believe we are 6.3mcg.

We do not have information on how their testing has been conducted, but we know that our testing has been done to the highest standards possible.

In addition, Huel Black Edition is NSF Certified, which means it’s independently tested for heavy metals like lead. It is a high standard, as you can see from the numbers above, and it has passed those high standards of certification.

I really do know that seeing this is scary, no one likes the idea of consuming heavy metals. However, it’s worth knowing that trace amounts of lead naturally occur in most foods grown in soil, from spinach to oats, particularly plant-based ingredients because they are grown in soil. Huel sits comfortably within those international standards and is completely safe to consume.

I appreciate you will all have questions, I will reply to as much as I can here.

You can find the original Reddit post here.

1 Like
8

We are going to have to disagree then, 6.3mcg is ridiculously high especially when the daily average exposure to lead is already 5.3mcg. I’ll be canceling my subscription until further independent testing is done.

Also, please explain this: “We also found measurable levels of cadmium and inorganic arsenic in some products. One serving of Huel’s Black Edition plant-based protein powder contained 9.2 micrograms of cadmium, more than double the level that public health authorities and CR’s experts say may be harmful to have daily, which is 4.1 micrograms.”

“Huel did not respond to questions about the amount of cadmium found in its product.”

2 Likes
9

Also; here is the detail on testing from CR.

2 Likes
10

I can appreciate that the Huel team is going to need time to fully explain things, my hope is that they are fully transparent through this process though. I am extremely concerned as a longtime daily user of Huel Black. I essentially have trusted Huel with my life and well being and find myself feeling lots of emotions at the moment…

5 Likes
11

I am very familiar with the testing.

I completely understand, and that is a decision only you can make.

Awareness is important in situations like this, and we’re working on getting an article out a little today, which goes into detail and gives a full breakdown report from the NSF who are the gold standard for this sort of certification.

Consumer Reports based its comparison on California’s Proposition 65 - a state-specific regulation that sets an exceptionally conservative threshold for lead at 0.5 µg per day. This limit is roughly 1,000 times lower than the level at which scientific studies have shown any observable effects in lab tests, which represents a significant margin of error.

Huel Black Edition contains between 1.5–2.2 µg of lead per 90g serving, compared with Consumer Reports’ reported 6.3 µg.

We test all Huel products for heavy metals, and the results are consistently well within the safety thresholds established by the UK, EU, and the NSF - an independent US public health and safety organisation that develops standards and certifies products for food safety.

12

Thank you for being so honest.

I know that this has come as a shock to alot of people. We have conducted 17 tests in the last 3 years on Black Edition Powder and our levels are 1) well within the safe limits of UK, EU and NSF guidelines 2) far less than the numbers Consumer Reports are quoting. We did share this information originally back in September when Consumer Reports asked us for comment.

We want to make sure you feel like you can trust us. As I mentioned above we’re working on getting some information together in a form of an article and as soon as it’s live I’ll make sure to share this with you.

13

Will your article directly address cadmium? You seem to continue to not address that concern directly.

2 Likes
14

Thank you for the reply - and I look forward to hearing more about what you are able to share in the coming days. Please just remember that this is scary stuff for a long time user of your product and “nothing to see here” comments are not going to help that fear. What will be the best way/ location to watch for updates on this?

2 Likes
15

We’ve just gone live with a post on Reddit, you can find it here - here

Within this, you’ll find links to the articles. To answer you @CosmicMustard it will.

If you have any questions, please let me know, or you can jump in the thread and will be happy to answer also.

16

What’s your plan to determine how the difference between your data and CR’s data occurred? Are you working with them?

1 Like
17

Honestly, we’re not sure why there is a discrepancy in the raw number. However, the main point we’re making is that their tolerance level was far too low and alarmist. Their 0.5 µg per day threshold comes from California’s Proposition 65, which divides the observable effect level by 1,000 as an added safety buffer. It’s not an internationally recognised measure of risk.

18

So that sounds like a no, that you aren’t going to find out why there was such a high discrepancy. If CR’s findings are true then two servings of Huel would put you over the FDA’s interim reference level which is 8.8 micrograms a day for adults. It’s extremely odd that you don’t seem interested in finding out why your results are so different from CR’s regardless if you think the current levels are safe.

2 Likes
19

FWIW, I’ve been consuming Huel since 2019 and recently had a full blood panel done. My lead levels are currently considered optimal at < 1.0 mcg/dL

3 Likes
20

As an almost daily consumer of Huel black, this is extremely disturbing. I will pause my subscription til there is some clarity as to what is going on. So far, the explanations seem convoluted and a means to save face (understandably), despite that, I’ve always been an “evangelist” for Huel, so I’ll say, “innocent til proven guilty”, although, I will stop consuming it till further notice.

1 Like