Heavy metals in Eggs

Eggs overview

Eggs in the HMI library has 941 reported results for lead, cadmium, total arsenic, inorganic arsenic, dimethylarsinic acid, total mercury, methylmercury, nickel, chromium, aluminium, tin, antimony, uranium, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, V, Se, As, B, Ba, F, Hg, I, Mg, Mo, S, Sr and Tl from 50 sources.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →2U.S. Food and Drug Administration · 2022FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical ResultsFDA Total Diet StudyRead source →3Canadian Food Inspection Agency · 2025Toxic metals in selected foods – April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023: Food chemistry – Targeted surveys – Final reportCanadian Food Inspection AgencyRead source →4Chowdhury AI, Shill LC, Raihan MM, Rashid R, Bhuiyan MNH, Reza S, Alam MR · 2024Human health risk assessment of heavy metals in vegetables of BangladeshScientific Reports 2024, 14: 15616Read source →5Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) · 2016Report on a Total Diet Study Carried out by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in the Period 2012–2014FSAI Chemical Monitoring and Surveillance SeriesRead source →6Food Standards Agency, Hallmark Meat Hygiene · 2014Survey of metals and other elements in commercial infant foods, infant formula and non-infant specific foodsFood Standards Agency reportRead source →} WHO GEMS/Food submissions reported lead in eggs, as sold from 6,699 results in 5 reporting regions, with subgroup medians from 0.569 to 340 µg/kg.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →} In the US Total Diet Study, eggs, cooked had a median lead result below 4 µg/kg across 27 composites from 2017–2020.^{2U.S. Food and Drug Administration · 2022FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical ResultsFDA Total Diet StudyRead source →}

Across 6 other studies of ordinary farms and markets, reported lead means and medians on an as-sold or fresh-weight basis ranged from 4.2 µg/kg (Marín et al. 2018) to 5,600 µg/kg (Chowdhury et al. 2024).^{4Chowdhury AI, Shill LC, Raihan MM, Rashid R, Bhuiyan MNH, Reza S, Alam MR · 2024Human health risk assessment of heavy metals in vegetables of BangladeshScientific Reports 2024, 14: 15616Read source →8Marín S, Pardo O, Sánchez A, Sanchis Y, Vélez D, Devesa V, Font G, Yusà V · 2018Assessment of metal levels in foodstuffs from the Region of Valencia (Spain)Toxicology Reports 5 (2018) 654-670Read source →} For cadmium, 5 studies on an as-sold or fresh-weight basis reported means and medians from 0.6 µg/kg (EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) 2009) to 625 µg/kg (Chowdhury et al. 2024).^{4Chowdhury AI, Shill LC, Raihan MM, Rashid R, Bhuiyan MNH, Reza S, Alam MR · 2024Human health risk assessment of heavy metals in vegetables of BangladeshScientific Reports 2024, 14: 15616Read source →9EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) · 2009Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain on a request from the European Commission on cadmium in foodThe EFSA JournalRead source →} Higher results came from contaminated or exposed settings rather than ordinary supply. Eggs, as sold from Hg mining area (Wuchuan) (mining-affected area) had Zn higher at 61,800 µg/kg, against 310 µg/kg for background area (Anshun) in the same study.^{10Guo Y, Li Y, Wang Q, Zhang H, Liu J, Feng X · 2024Heavy metal contamination in duck eggs near mercury mining areas in southwest ChinaFrontiers in Public HealthRead source →}

For a buyer the practical points are the form bought, the basis a result is reported on, where the eggs came from and the laboratory’s reporting limit. Testing finds contamination but does not remove it.

What counts as eggs

This page covers eggs in 5 forms kept separate in every comparison: eggs, as sold (914 results), eggs, dried (10 results), eggs, cooked (9 results), eggs, canned (4 results) and eggs, powder or ground (4 results).^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →2U.S. Food and Drug Administration · 2022FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical ResultsFDA Total Diet StudyRead source →3Canadian Food Inspection Agency · 2025Toxic metals in selected foods – April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023: Food chemistry – Targeted surveys – Final reportCanadian Food Inspection AgencyRead source →4Chowdhury AI, Shill LC, Raihan MM, Rashid R, Bhuiyan MNH, Reza S, Alam MR · 2024Human health risk assessment of heavy metals in vegetables of BangladeshScientific Reports 2024, 14: 15616Read source →5Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) · 2016Report on a Total Diet Study Carried out by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in the Period 2012–2014FSAI Chemical Monitoring and Surveillance SeriesRead source →6Food Standards Agency, Hallmark Meat Hygiene · 2014Survey of metals and other elements in commercial infant foods, infant formula and non-infant specific foodsFood Standards Agency reportRead source →} Foods made from eggs that have their own pages, such as egg noodles, are covered there.

Results stay on the basis each source reports: as sold or fresh weight, dry weight, or unstated. Dry-weight, as-sold and unstated results are never pooled, and no moisture conversion is applied.

Heavy metal contamination profile of eggs

The table holds every extracted eggs result: one row for each statistic a source reports for a form, group and metal, 941 rows in all, grouped by metal and form; percentiles, ranges and maxima for the same samples as a mean or median are shown on that row.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →2U.S. Food and Drug Administration · 2022FY2018-FY2020 TDS Elements Analytical ResultsFDA Total Diet StudyRead source →3Canadian Food Inspection Agency · 2025Toxic metals in selected foods – April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023: Food chemistry – Targeted surveys – Final reportCanadian Food Inspection AgencyRead source →4Chowdhury AI, Shill LC, Raihan MM, Rashid R, Bhuiyan MNH, Reza S, Alam MR · 2024Human health risk assessment of heavy metals in vegetables of BangladeshScientific Reports 2024, 14: 15616Read source →5Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) · 2016Report on a Total Diet Study Carried out by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in the Period 2012–2014FSAI Chemical Monitoring and Surveillance SeriesRead source →6Food Standards Agency, Hallmark Meat Hygiene · 2014Survey of metals and other elements in commercial infant foods, infant formula and non-infant specific foodsFood Standards Agency reportRead source →} Monitoring medians are HMI calculations from individual submissions; non-detects remain intervals between zero and the reporting limit and are never read as zero.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →}

177 rows can be rated against an HMI reference for the same form and basis, 136 rows have a direct same-study comparison, and the rest stay unrated with the reason recorded. 19 values from 5 sources failed a check against their own source and are shown but not compared.^{7Wu et al. · 2022Ameliorative effects of selenized yeast on laying hen performance and heavy metal residues in eggsFrontiers in Veterinary ScienceRead source →10Guo Y, Li Y, Wang Q, Zhang H, Liu J, Feng X · 2024Heavy metal contamination in duck eggs near mercury mining areas in southwest ChinaFrontiers in Public HealthRead source →11Siddiqui I, Nizami SS, Khan FA, Hashmi DR, Rashid U, Munshi AB, Ali-Ul-Qadar S · 2012Determination of Lead and Cadmium in Hen Eggs by Graphite France Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry and Estimation of the Daily IntakePakistan Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research Series B: Biological Sciences 2012, 55 (2): 93-100Read source →12Kim YB, Jeon JY, Kim NR, Chae HS, Kim JS, Kim HJ, Oh SI, Cho S, Lee KW · 2022Dietary effects of black soldier fly larvae oil on laying hen performance, egg quality, and egg safetyAnimal BioscienceRead source →13Kurniawati S, Damastuti E, Adventini N, Syahfitri WYN, Kusmartini I, Lestiani DD, Santoso M · 2021Determination of several heavy metals in staple foods from traditional markets in Jakarta using neutron activation analysisAIP Conference Proceedings (4th International Seminar on Chemistry)Read source →}