Heavy metals in rice protein products to be strictly limited thanks to history-making agreement

Wednesday, February 05, 2014 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: rice protein, heavy metals, industry agreement

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(NaturalNews) A history-making announcement has just been released by Natural News, describing a natural products industry agreement which would strictly limit the level of heavy metals allowable in popular raw vegan superfood protein products. Both Garden of Life and Sunwarrior joined the unprecedented agreement, committing to achieving the specific heavy metals limits in their protein products by July 1, 2015. Boku Superfood immediately signed on to the agreement after it was first announced.

Mike Adams, editor of NaturalNews.com and the lead researcher who originally identified tungsten in brown rice protein products, explains that the majority of brown rice proteins tested in the Forensic Food Lab showed levels of tungsten, an industrial heavy metal that's just now getting noticed in the food industry.

The agreement is the first ever voluntary heavy metals limit ever achieved in the natural products industry. "This marks a milestone for food safety and protections for consumers," said Adams, who led the agreement discussions.

The agreement limits heavy metals in protein products to:

Lead limit: 250 ppb
Tungsten limit: 50 ppb
Cadmium limit: 1000 ppb
Mercury limit: 50 ppb

Many protein products currently sold in the USA vastly exceed these limits. Adams is now urging all rice protein manufacturers across the United States to join the agreement already signed onto by Garden of Life and Sunwarrior. VEGA, Jarrow Formulas, Nutribiotic, Living Fuel, Nutribody Protein, Ultimate Superfood and Healthforce Warrior Food are specifically invited to join the industry accord in the interests of public trust and food safety.

To achieve the agreement, Natural News readers waged a grassroots social media awareness campaign that voiced their concerns to Garden of Life, makers of popular raw vegan superfood protein products. Garden of Life responded to the concerns promptly, and company founder Jordan Rubin took part in the discussions that quickly led to the agreement outlined in this Natural News article.

"Mr. Adams' testing highlighted for us the importance of our commitment to support organic practices at the farm-level," said Garden of Life Vice President of Science Jeffrey Brams. He continued to explain that this conversation "deepened our resolve to know each of our farmers personally, supporting them with the best practices, providing long term contracts with stable pricing and requiring them to adhere to the highest fair farming standards. Raw Protein is, remains and always has been safe," Brams explained.

Sunwarrior CEO Russ Crosby also added, "Sunwarrior, in conjunction with Mike Adams, is demanding higher standards in the entire natural foods supply chain process and this begins with the water and soil our ingredients are grown in. This has always been our mission and will continue to be moving into the future."