Heavy metals in Turmeric

Turmeric overview

Turmeric in the HMI library has 285 reported results for lead, cadmium, total arsenic, inorganic arsenic, total mercury, nickel, chromium, aluminium, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, Ba, Ca, K, Rb, Sr and Tl from 29 sources.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →2Brown MJ, Patel P, Nash E, Dikid T, Blanton C, Forsyth JE, Fontaine R, Sharma P, Keith J, Babu B, Vaisakh TP, Azarudeen MJ, Riram B, Shrivastava A · 2022Prevalence of elevated blood lead levels and risk factors among children living in Patna, Bihar, India 2020PLOS Global Public HealthRead source →3Lech FA, Brown S, Karagas MR, Matte TD · 2020Ground Turmeric as a Source of Lead Exposure in the United StatesEnvironmental Health PerspectivesRead source →4Shah SK, Thapa A, Bhattarai A · 2025Heavy Metal Contamination in Commercial Turmeric: A Public Health PerspectiveCOGNITION: A Peer Reviewed Transdisciplinary Research JournalRead source →5Tinggi U, Farrell M, Porter J, Mitchell S, Jurd S · 2025Heavy metal analysis in commercial spices and herbs by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and estimated dietary exposureJournal of Environmental Exposure AssessmentRead source →6Rahman MA, Akter T, Akter R, Sarkar BK, Rafiquzzaman M · 2021Analysis of heavy metal contents in some commercial turmeric samples available at Dhaka, BangladeshJahangirnagar University Journal of Biological SciencesRead source →} WHO GEMS/Food submissions reported lead in turmeric, as sold from 352 results in 5 reporting regions, with subgroup medians from 0.53 to 640 µg/kg.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →} For cadmium, GEMS/Food gave subgroup medians from 10 to 60 µg/kg from 155 results.^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →}

Across 5 other studies of ordinary farms and markets, reported lead means and medians on an as-sold or fresh-weight basis ranged from 100 µg/kg (Tinggi et al. 2025) to 1,900,000 µg/kg (Ericson et al. 2020).^{5Tinggi U, Farrell M, Porter J, Mitchell S, Jurd S · 2025Heavy metal analysis in commercial spices and herbs by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and estimated dietary exposureJournal of Environmental Exposure AssessmentRead source →7Ericson B, Gabelaia L, Keith J, Kashibadze T, Beraia N, Sturua L, Kazzi Z · 2020Elevated Levels of Lead (Pb) Identified in Georgian SpicesAnnals of Global HealthRead source →} For cadmium, 2 studies on an as-sold or fresh-weight basis reported means and medians from 26 µg/kg (Tinggi et al. 2025) to 1,490 µg/kg (Islam et al. 2023).^{5Tinggi U, Farrell M, Porter J, Mitchell S, Jurd S · 2025Heavy metal analysis in commercial spices and herbs by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and estimated dietary exposureJournal of Environmental Exposure AssessmentRead source →8Islam MS, Chowdhury AI, Shill LC, Reza S, Alam MR · 2023Heavy Metals Induced Health Risk Assessment Through Consumption of Selected Commercially Available Spices in Noakhali District of BangladeshmedRxiv (preprint)Read source →} Higher results came from contaminated or exposed settings rather than ordinary supply. Turmeric, powder or ground from organic turmeric had chromium higher at 1,560 µg/kg, against 820 µg/kg for all samples in the same study.^{5Tinggi U, Farrell M, Porter J, Mitchell S, Jurd S · 2025Heavy metal analysis in commercial spices and herbs by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and estimated dietary exposureJournal of Environmental Exposure AssessmentRead source →}

For a buyer the practical points are the form bought, the basis a result is reported on, where the turmeric came from and the laboratory’s reporting limit. The EU maximum level of 1,500 µg/kg for root and rhizome spices (Regulation 2023/915) is the most stringent applicable limit and applies to turmeric imported into the European Union; the Indian FSSAI limit is 10,000 µg/kg, but 30% of retail turmeric from eastern Indian states exceeded even that limit in a 2021-2023 field survey.^{16Forsyth JE, Nash E, Bhattacharjee S, Bhattacharya K, Luby SP · 2026Systemic drivers of toxic food adulteration: lead chromate in turmeric across eastern IndiaNPJ Science of FoodRead source →15Abia ALK, Mbenga A, Tonou Fonkeng A, Zoubi ML, Bopda A, Boyom FF · 2025Africa, an Emerging Exporter of Turmeric: Combating Fraud with Rapid Detection SystemsFoodsRead source →} Testing finds contamination but does not remove it.

What counts as turmeric

This page covers turmeric in 3 forms kept separate in every comparison: turmeric, powder or ground (198 results), turmeric, as sold (85 results) and turmeric, dried (2 results).^{1World Health Organization · 2026GEMS/Food Contaminants database heavy-metal exportsGEMS/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment ProgrammeRead source →2Brown MJ, Patel P, Nash E, Dikid T, Blanton C, Forsyth JE, Fontaine R, Sharma P, Keith J, Babu B, Vaisakh TP, Azarudeen MJ, Riram B, Shrivastava A · 2022Prevalence of elevated blood lead levels and risk factors among children living in Patna, Bihar, India 2020PLOS Global Public HealthRead source →3Lech FA, Brown S, Karagas MR, Matte TD · 2020Ground Turmeric as a Source of Lead Exposure in the United StatesEnvironmental Health PerspectivesRead source →4Shah SK, Thapa A, Bhattarai A · 2025Heavy Metal Contamination in Commercial Turmeric: A Public Health PerspectiveCOGNITION: A Peer Reviewed Transdisciplinary Research JournalRead source →5Tinggi U, Farrell M, Porter J, Mitchell S, Jurd S · 2025Heavy metal analysis in commercial spices and herbs by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and estimated dietary exposureJournal of Environmental Exposure AssessmentRead source →6Rahman MA, Akter T, Akter R, Sarkar BK, Rafiquzzaman M · 2021Analysis of heavy metal contents in some commercial turmeric samples available at Dhaka, BangladeshJahangirnagar University Journal of Biological SciencesRead source →}

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 turmeric

The table holds every extracted turmeric result: one row for each statistic a source reports for a form, group and metal, 285 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 →2Brown MJ, Patel P, Nash E, Dikid T, Blanton C, Forsyth JE, Fontaine R, Sharma P, Keith J, Babu B, Vaisakh TP, Azarudeen MJ, Riram B, Shrivastava A · 2022Prevalence of elevated blood lead levels and risk factors among children living in Patna, Bihar, India 2020PLOS Global Public HealthRead source →3Lech FA, Brown S, Karagas MR, Matte TD · 2020Ground Turmeric as a Source of Lead Exposure in the United StatesEnvironmental Health PerspectivesRead source →4Shah SK, Thapa A, Bhattarai A · 2025Heavy Metal Contamination in Commercial Turmeric: A Public Health PerspectiveCOGNITION: A Peer Reviewed Transdisciplinary Research JournalRead source →5Tinggi U, Farrell M, Porter J, Mitchell S, Jurd S · 2025Heavy metal analysis in commercial spices and herbs by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and estimated dietary exposureJournal of Environmental Exposure AssessmentRead source →6Rahman MA, Akter T, Akter R, Sarkar BK, Rafiquzzaman M · 2021Analysis of heavy metal contents in some commercial turmeric samples available at Dhaka, BangladeshJahangirnagar University Journal of Biological SciencesRead 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 →}

62 rows can be rated against an HMI reference for the same form and basis, 30 rows have a direct same-study comparison, and the rest stay unrated with the reason recorded. 8 values from 4 sources failed a check against their own source and are shown but not compared.^{9Ziyaina M, Rajab A, Alkhweldi K, Algami W, Al-Toumi O, Rasco B · 2014Lead and cadmium residue determination in spices available in Tripoli City markets (Libya)African Journal of Biochemistry ResearchRead source →10Alam M Nur E, Hosen M Mozammal, Maksud M A, Khan S R, Lutfa L N, Choudhury Tasrina Rabia, Quraishi Shamshad B · 2022Lead Exposure of Four Biologically Important Common Branded and Nonbranded Spices: Relative Analysis and Health ImplicationResearch Square (preprint)Read source →11Khalid S, Tufail S, Hussain S, Iqbal M · 2021Comparative Studies of Lead and Chromium Concentration in Red Chili and Turmeric PowderPakistan Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research Series B: Biological Sciences 64B(2): 198-201 (2021)Read source →12Bua DG, Annuario G, Albergamo A, Cicero N, Dugo G · 2016Heavy metals in aromatic spices by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometryFood Additives & Contaminants: Part BRead source →}