Heavy Metals Are a Supply Chain Problem, Not a Protein Problem

By Nicole Atchison, CEO, PURIS Holdings

Key takeaways:

• Heavy metals are a supply chain challenge, not simply an ingredient challenge. Understanding where ingredients come from and how they move through the food system is critical to managing risk. 
• Trust is built through predictability. Manufacturers gain confidence when sourcing, traceability, testing, and verification systems consistently deliver reliable outcomes over time. 
• The future of food safety is transparency. Companies that can clearly demonstrate ingredient origins, preventive controls, and supply chain visibility will be best positioned to meet evolving customers, retailers, and regulatory expectations.

When a food manufacturer receives a heavy metal test result that raises concern, the first question is often: Which ingredient caused the problem?

It’s a reasonable question. But increasingly, it’s the wrong one.

Heavy metals have become one of the food industry’s most visible challenges. From retailer audits and Proposition 65 considerations to consumer-facing headlines about contaminants in food products, manufacturers are under growing pressure to prove what’s in their products and where it came from. Yet many discussions continue to focus on individual ingredients rather than the system behind them.

The reality is that heavy metals are rarely an ingredient problem alone. They are the result of countless decisions made throughout the food system, from farm selection and sourcing practices to ingredient handling, processing, formulation, and verification.

For manufacturers, managing heavy metal risk starts long before a sample reaches a laboratory. 

It starts with understanding the supply chain.

The conversation needs to move beyond “what’s in the ingredient?”

Heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury occur naturally in the environment. Crops interact with soil, water, weather, and geography throughout the growing process. As a result, trace levels can be found across the food system, including in vegetables, grains, fruits, cocoa, spices, and plant proteins. 

The important question isn’t whether trace elements exist.

The important question is how effectively they are being managed.

Too often, discussions about heavy metals focus on a single ingredient category. Yet finished product outcomes frequently reflect contributions from multiple ingredients, sourcing regions, and supply chain decisions. A protein ingredient may receive scrutiny, while the larger contribution comes from cocoa, flavor systems, botanical ingredients, mineral blends, or other formulation components. 

That’s why manufacturers need to shift their thinking from ingredient-level evaluation to system-level management.

Trust is built through predictability

Food manufacturers operate in an environment where uncertainty creates risk.

Retailers want assurance. Regulatory agencies expect documentation. Consumers want transparency. Procurement teams need confidence that today’s ingredient will perform consistently tomorrow.

The foundation of trust is predictability.

Predictability comes from understanding where ingredients originate, how they move through the supply chain, and what controls exist at each stage. It comes from being able to answer questions quickly and confidently when customers, auditors, or regulators ask them.

In the past, many companies viewed traceability as a compliance requirement.

Today, it is becoming a competitive advantage.

Manufacturers that can demonstrate clear sourcing practices, lot-level documentation, robust testing programs, and transparent supplier relationships are increasingly better positioned to manage risk and build credibility throughout the value chain. 

Why traceability is becoming a differentiator

Not all supply chains are designed equally.

In highly fragmented ingredient systems, raw materials may be blended across regions, suppliers, or harvests before they ever reach a food manufacturer. While these systems can provide flexibility and scale, they can also make it more difficult to understand variability or investigate food safety concerns.

By contrast, more transparent supply chains create visibility that helps manufacturers understand both risks and opportunities.

Questions such as:

• Where was this crop grown?
• What growing conditions influenced the harvest?
• How was the ingredient processed?
• What testing was performed?
• Can results be linked back to specific lots or sourcing regions?

These are no longer niche quality assurance questions.

They are becoming routine business questions.  

The companies best prepared for future transparency expectations will be those that can answer them.

Why end-point testing isn’t enough

Testing remains one of the most important tools in food safety.

But testing alone does not create safety.

A certificate of analysis provides a result. It does not explain how that result was achieved. It does not identify where variability originated, how risks were controlled upstream, or what actions were taken to improve outcomes over time.

The strongest food safety systems combine verification with prevention.

That means focusing on:

• Defined sourcing regions
• Supplier qualification programs
• Agronomic management practices
• Identity-preserved supply chains when needed
• Processing controls
• Ongoing monitoring programs
• Lot-level verification and documentation

Testing remains essential. But true risk mitigation occurs when controls are implemented before the test result is generated. 

Geography matters more than many manufacturers realize

One of the most overlooked factors in heavy metal management is geography.

Different growing regions naturally exhibit different soil compositions and environmental conditions. Heavy metal variability often begins at the field level, long before ingredients enter processing facilities. Understanding these regional differences can be critical when manufacturers are developing products with particularly stringent quality, food safety, or regulatory requirements. 

That’s one reason why sourcing transparency has become increasingly important.

Manufacturers cannot effectively manage what they cannot see.

When ingredient origins are clearly understood, organizations can make more informed sourcing decisions, improve risk assessments, and establish stronger control strategies for their products.

Four questions every procurement team should ask suppliers

As transparency becomes a business imperative, procurement and quality teams should look beyond specifications alone.

Four questions can reveal far more about a supplier’s food safety system than a specification sheet:

1. Where was the crop grown?

Understanding sourcing regions provides critical context around environmental conditions, agricultural practices, and potential variability.

2. Can you trace ingredients back to specific lots and sources?

Strong traceability improves audit readiness, investigation capabilities, and overall supply chain visibility.

3. What controls exist before testing occurs?

Preventive measures often tell manufacturers more about future consistency than a single laboratory result.

4. How do you continuously improve outcomes over time?

The strongest suppliers view food safety, transparency, and contaminant management as ongoing processes rather than static compliance exercises.

Asking these questions helps shift the conversation from compliance to capability.

The future of food safety is transparency

Consumer trust is changing.

People increasingly want to know how food was grown, where ingredients originated, and what systems stand behind the products they purchase. Retailers and regulators are asking many of the same questions.

Meeting those expectations will require more than passing specifications.

It will require systems designed for visibility, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Heavy metals provide an important example. While laboratory testing remains essential, the manufacturers best equipped to navigate evolving expectations will be the ones focused on understanding the entire journey of an ingredient, from field to finished product.

Because ultimately, trust is not built by a test result.

It is built by understanding everything that happened before that result was ever measured. 

Nicole Atchison is CEO of PURIS Holding, a vertically integrated food and ingredient company focused on building a more transparent and resilient food system. She works across agriculture, ingredient manufacturing, and food innovation to help brands address evolving challenges related to food safety, supply chain transparency, ingredient sourcing, and consumer trust.