Oils (omega-3, fish oil, coconut oil) — HMTc Standard

How every number on this page is set

Why the anchor family is child-protective rather than adult-supplement. The nearest same-form sovereign analog for a pet supplement is a human food supplement, and several governments do set maxima for those. HMTc does not use them, for the same reason Category 16 does not: they are an adult-intake framework, they run one to three orders of magnitude above the child-food ceilings, and a companion animal is a small-bodied consumer receiving a concentrated dose. A four-kilogram cat given a one-gram daily supplement scoop, or a five-kilogram dog given a soft chew, sits in a body-weight-normalised intake range comparable to an infant on formula and far above a seventy-kilogram adult. That is the disclosed rationale for which analog family HMTc adopts; it is not a calculation and it does not select any number. Every number still comes from a named sovereign instrument in the register, and the instrument, the limb of the instrument, and the floors HMTc declined are all named on the cell.

Why the numbers differ from HMTc Category 16 in four cells. Category 16 anchors cadmium, inorganic arsenic, nickel and total mercury on the liquid or ready-to-eat limb of form-split instruments and applies those values to as-sold solid supplements. Category 18 takes the powder limb of the same instruments, because the product is an as-sold concentrate and Method v2.0 step 4 requires preserving the product-form split the government rule itself writes. Category 18 is therefore not laxer as a matter of policy; it is the same instrument family read in the correct limb, and the difference is recorded here rather than smoothed over.

The two applicability filters, in order. The first is mechanical: only register rows the register itself classifies basis_class=as_sold may anchor a cell, which blocks every reconstituted and feed-basis row without any judgment being exercised. The second is declared and uniform: the anchor must come from the adopted analog family, which is finished foods intended for a small consumer. The second filter is needed because basis_class records whether a limit is written on the product as sold, not how much water the commodity contains, so a fresh-vegetable or fluid-milk ceiling can pass the mechanical filter and still be looser than it looks against an as-sold dry concentrate. The widened stricter-unselected audit scan is pointed at exactly those commodity families so that every such row surfaces in the derivation report with its disposition attached, rather than being quietly out of scope. The complete set of rows it surfaces across all seven subcategories is hk_cap132v_thg_vegetables-other-than-edible-fungi_10, hk_cap132v_thg_milk_10, hk_cap132v_thg_secondary-milk-products_10, il_fcs2016_thg_1_milk_10, il_fcs2016_cd_1_milk_5 and il_fcs2016_ias_1_milk_10; every one is a wet whole-commodity ceiling for fresh vegetables or fluid milk, none is adopted, and the disposition is recorded on each affected cell as well as here. An independent sweep of every live row in the widened credible set that the register classifies as_sold, run without this compiler’s scope regex and without its infant-row exclusion, returns no other row stricter than any binding in this category.

Why all seven rows carry the same numbers. The adopted anchor family is a finished-child-food ceiling, which is defined by the consumer and the basis rather than by the ingredient, so it does not vary between a vitamin powder and a botanical blend. Category 16 publishes the same uniform shape for the same reason. The rows differ where the evidence actually differs: in the methylmercury posture (every-lot speciation where marine or freshwater material is routine, reflex speciation otherwise), in the hexavalent-chromium posture (every-lot speciation trigger where mineral, clay or geologic carriers are declared, and a lead-and-chromium co-elevation adulteration trigger on the botanical row), in the total-chromium rationale (chromium is a declared nutrient in the vitamin and mineral row and a contaminant everywhere else), and in the tin escalation rule. Occurrence history is recorded in the scope notes because it drives sampling posture; it never moves a ceiling.

Master Limit Table

All values in ppb (µg/kg), as-sold basis. 7 of 11 analytes carry a firm ceiling; the remainder are governed by mandatory control or reflex-speciation screening with no standalone number, itemised in the derivation below. A brand meeting every firm value on a like-for-like basis, and passing every control, qualifies for the mark.

Tier 1 (Pb, iAs, Hg, MeHg, Cd) are zero-tolerance toxics with no established safe threshold. Tier 2 (tAs, Cr-VI, Ni, Sn, Al, Cr) carry a 150% transitional allowance under the program’s Status A–E framework.

Derivation — every government’s number, side by side

The full derivation for Oils (omega-3, fish oil, coconut oil). Each row lists every government maximum level in force worldwide, converted to the as-sold basis; the HMTc limit is the strictest of them, and the last column names which sovereign law binds. A blank cell means that government sets no limit for this analyte in this product.

All values µg/kg (ppb), as-sold basis. ² no government regulates this analyte for this exact product form: the value is a disclosed read-across from the nearest applicable government maximum, and the derivation names the instrument it comes from. It is never taken from occurrence data. After publication the standards ratchet may tighten it, using certified-lot results only. ³ not material in this matrix: controlled by reflex speciation or packaging control, not a standalone number. &sup4; no sovereign maximum exists for this analyte in this product, but a credible exposure pathway does — it is screened on every lot under ALARA against the tightest analogous reference, not assigned an invented number.

Cite this standard

Pendergrass, K. “Oils (omega-3, fish oil, coconut oil).” In Heavy Metal Tested & Certified (HMTc) Pet Supplements standard, version 1.0. Institute of Contaminant Standards (ICS), 2026. DOI: registration pending.

The literature baseline for every analyte is maintained independently at the Heavy Metal Index. This certification standard applies those findings; the two are kept editorially separate by design.