Heavy Metal Certified
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HMTc for brands

Guide

A route through Heavy Metal Tested & Certified for brand founders and marketing leads: what the mark says on a package, the premium a checkable claim supports, what certification costs, and how to apply. Start here if you are deciding whether to certify a product.

UPDATED 2026-08-13
For brands
Metals tested8
Certified analyte panel10
Multi-year term discountto 20%
Standard processing4–8 weeks

Start here if you make a product

Heavy Metal Tested & Certified certifies a product against a published number, on a ten-analyte panel, in the form it is actually sold in. For a brand, the mark is a claim a buyer or a retailer can check — not a reassurance. This page routes you to what you need to decide whether to certify, in the order a brand usually reads it.

What the mark does for a brand

  • What the mark says — the exact claim the seal makes on a package, and the scope line it must appear with, so the claim can be checked rather than trusted.
  • The Premium Promise — why a checkable heavy-metal claim can support a price where a process claim cannot.
  • The cost of being uncertified — the exposure a four-metal mark or an untested SKU carries as governments write new limits.
  • What organic doesn’t say — why an organic certificate is not a heavy-metal result.

Before you apply

  • Is my product eligible? — the subcategory standards register. A product is eligible the moment a standard exists for its subcategory; a brand does not wait for the rest of its category.
  • How a limit is set, and how testing works — the derivation, the ten-analyte panel, and the five certification statuses.
  • How HMTc compares — coverage against NSF, USP, Clean Label Project and the rest, so you know exactly what the mark adds.

Apply

  • Apply for certification — the application, what a lab report has to show, and the fee structure. Fees are annual and scale with revenue, so a small brand is not priced at an enterprise rate; two- and three-year terms take up to 20% off.
  • Fee calculator — an estimate before you commit.

Reading for a different role? For retailers routes category buyers and approved-certification lists; For legal & QA routes regulatory, quality, and legal teams.