True Tea (Camellia Sinensis)
This page is HMTc Category 5 row 11 from the locked beverage architecture. It exists as a wiki node so evidence, regulatory context, ingredient routing, and future field findings have a stable place to land.
Who this page is for
Heavy Metal Index pages are written for several audiences at once. Each entry point below names where to start if you are reading this page with a specific question in mind.
- Brand legal and regulatory affairs
- Cherry-pick attack vectors on tea (Camellia sinensis) typically center on aluminum, manganese, and lead uptake by the tea plant; elevation and provincial sourcing drive multi-fold variance. The aluminum case for true tea is one of the most-litigated heavy-metal-in-food categories. Geographic and elevation context is the defensive core. Compare with Matcha for the within-pair sibling. The cited sources at the bottom of this page are the citations list, written to be quoted into a Daubert brief without further editing.
- Retailer quality and compliance
- The Federal / Regulatory Limits vs Field Findings section compares the applicable regulatory cap to cited field evidence on a like-for-like basis, with basis conversion shown when conversion is well-defined and a methodology anchor when speciation differs. The Literature Evidence Summary gives source count and confidence rating per analyte.
- Brand QA and product development
- Use the Lab Result Comparator to position a single lab value inside the cited literature. The comparator positions a single lab value inside the cited literature for true tea, with aluminum and lead treated as primary concerns.
- Regulators, journalists, and adversarial readers
- Every numeric claim on this page traces to a source page. The Evidence Governance note explains what this page is and is not (literature evidence, not HMT&C certification thresholds).
- HMT&C staff (internal)
- HMT&C certification thresholds for products in this row are developed under the certification program at heavymetaltested.com, not on this public page. The Index and HMT&C operate on the same evidence base but apply different publication rules; see the methodology for the separation.
| Field | Status |
|---|---|
| Row state | Locked row node; structured occurrence extraction pending |
| Category hub | category-5-beverages |
| Crosswalk hub | regulatory-crosswalk-field-findings |
| HMTc use | Routing and evidence-gap tracking only; not a certification threshold |
Federal / Regulatory Limits vs Field Findings
This is the fast comparison view for standards developers, regulators, retailers, brands, and legal teams. It shows the applicable federal or regulatory limit next to the current field-evidence state. It is not an HMTc pass/fail table; technical distributions remain in the evidence sections below.
| Metal | Federal / regulatory limit | Actual field finding | Decision read | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No loaded row | No federal or product-specific regulatory limit loaded yet | Comparable field finding extraction pending | Evidence-gap tracking only; do not infer a pass/fail status | regulatory-crosswalk-field-findings |
Evidence Handling
Finished-product findings belong on this product page. Ingredient-only findings belong on ingredient pages before they are used for product inference.
Literature Evidence Summary
The table below summarizes what the peer-reviewed and government literature cited on this page reports for heavy-metal concentrations in True tea (Camellia sinensis). Values are pulled directly from cited sources without re-aggregation; pooling, percentile selection, and threshold math sit in the staff Standards Workbench rather than this public page.
Methodology rules for speciation, basis preservation, non-detect handling, and source pooling are stated in the Methodology section above and apply to every row below.
| Analyte | Subcategory | Reported concentration range | Detection rate | Applicable regulatory cap | Sources | Confidence | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al | True tea (Camellia sinensis) (no contributing evidence loaded) | No concentration data loaded for this analyte | Sample-level detection rate not reported | No applicable cap loaded | 0 | data gap | Basis not reported |
| Pb | True tea (Camellia sinensis) (no contributing evidence loaded) | No concentration data loaded for this analyte | Sample-level detection rate not reported | No applicable cap loaded | 0 | data gap | Basis not reported |
| Cd | True tea (Camellia sinensis) (no contributing evidence loaded) | No concentration data loaded for this analyte | Sample-level detection rate not reported | No applicable cap loaded | 0 | data gap | Basis not reported |
Sources
Auto-generated from source-page frontmatter. The “Used on this page for” column is populated by the orchestrator’s POPULATE-SOURCE-LEGEND action; pending entries appear as *[awaiting synthesis]*.
| # | Citation | Year | Type | Used on this page for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Muhammed et al. 2026. Determination of essential and toxic elements in black teas sold in Turkiye, Turkish Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences | 2026 | Peer-reviewed | TR Al, Pb, tAs, Cd, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn occurrence in Eight black tea brands sold in Turkiye, analyzed as dry leaves and infusions |
| 2 | Szymczykowska et al. 2026. Elemental Composition of Japanese Matcha Powder and Infusions—Potential Role as a Functional Food in Metabolic Health, Beverages | 2026 | Peer-reviewed | JP/PL Pb, Cr, Ni occurrence in Two Japanese organic matcha types from the Uji region of Kyoto, Japan, single producer (JONA- and AgroBioTest-certified organic):… (n=2) |
| 3 | Elhassan et al. 2026. Heavy metals in commercial tea brands in Saudi Arabia, Scientific Reports | 2026 | Peer-reviewed | SA Al, Mn, Pb, Cd, tAs occurrence in Twenty commercial tea samples imported into Saudi Arabia |
| 4 | Ye et al. 2026. Occurrence of Tin in Foods and Dietary Exposure Assessment in Zhejiang Province, China, Foods | 2026 | Peer-reviewed | CN Sn occurrence in 2014 food samples from Zhejiang Province, China, collected 2018–2019 using multistage stratified random sampling: fresh vegetables (n=673), tea… (n=2014) |
| 5 | Fan et al. 2025. Occurrence, exposure and health risk assessment of heavy metals in green tea samples cultivated in Hangzhou area, Scientific Reports | 2025 | Peer-reviewed | CN tAs, Cd, Cr, Pb, tHg, Al, Ba, Cu, Li, Mn, Ni, Sb, Se, Sn, V occurrence in 120 green tea samples from Hangzhou area, Zhejiang Province, China; sourced from supermarkets (67), local markets (43), and… (n=120) |
| 6 | Melania et al. 2025. Analysis of risk elements in herbal tea samples, Journal of Microbiology, Biotechnology and Food Sciences | 2025 | Peer-reviewed | SK Cu, Pb, Ni, tAs occurrence in Six herbal tea materials from Slovakia prepared under three acid-extraction methods (n=18) |
| 7 | Masri et al. 2025. Assessing Dietary Consumption of Toxicant-Laden Foods and Beverages by Age and Ethnicity in California: Implications for Proposition 65, Nutrients | 2025 | Peer-reviewed | US Pb, Cd, tAs, MeHg occurrence in Cross-sectional online dietary survey (Qualtrics) administered between 1 March and 15 June 2023 to Southern California residents (adults… (n=186) |
| 8 | Salahel et al. 2025. Assessment of toxic heavy metals in commonly consumed foods in Egypt and their implications for public health and safety, Scientific Reports | 2025 | Peer-reviewed | EG Pb, Cd, Cr, tAs occurrence in Fifty-four food and beverage samples collected January-December 2022 from local markets in Qena Governorate, southern Egypt: beverages (n=20;… (n=54) |
| 9 | Wu et al. 2025. Cadmium in the Soil–Tea–Infusion Continuum of Selenium-Enriched Gardens: Implications for Food Safety, Foods | 2025 | Peer-reviewed | CN Cd occurrence in Twelve Se-enriched tea gardens in the Golden Tea Belt of southwestern Anhui Province, China (30° N), cultivating Camellia… (n=216) |
| 10 | Grzadka et al. 2024. Do You Know What You Drink? Comparative Research on the Contents of Radioisotopes and Heavy Metals in Different Types of Tea from Various Parts of the World, Foods | 2024 | Peer-reviewed | PL/LK/IN Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, V occurrence in Thirty commercial true-tea samples imported to the Polish market from 2021 to 2023: black tea (n=16), green tea… (n=30) |
| 11 | Maciej et al. 2024. Assessment of heavy metal contamination and associated health risk indices in commercial herbal tea samples using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, International Journal of Advanced Chemistry Research | 2024 | Peer-reviewed | PL Pb, Cd, tAs, tHg, Cr occurrence in Commercial herbal tea samples purchased from Polish retail markets (n=48) |
| 12 | Öztürk et al. 2024. Determination of aluminium concentrations in black, green, and white tea samples: effects of different infusion times and teapot species on aluminium release, European Food Research and Technology | 2024 | Peer-reviewed | TR Al occurrence in Commercially purchased Turkish black, green, and white tea brewed in 5 teapot materials (aluminium, copper, glass, steel, porcelain)… (n=45) |
| 13 | Song et al. 2024. Development of a Fast Method Using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry Coupled with High-Performance Liquid Chromatography and Exploration of the Reduction Mechanism of Cr(VI) in Foods, Toxics 12(5): 325 | 2024 | Peer-reviewed | CN Cr-VI, Cr occurrence in Seven commercially purchased food samples from a local supermarket in Nanjing, China — milk powder, rice flour, whole… (n=7) |
| 14 | Hu et al. 2023. Current Status and Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals Contamination in Tea across China, Toxics | 2023 | Peer-reviewed | CN tAs, Cd, Cr, Cu, tHg, Pb concentrations (n=4803) |
| 15 | Jurowski et al. 2023. The Control and Comprehensive Safety Assessment of Heavy Metal Impurities (As, Pb, and Cd) in Green Tea Camellia sinensis (L.) Samples (Infusions) Available in Poland, Biological Trace Element Research | 2023 | Peer-reviewed | PL/EU tAs, Pb, Cd occurrence in 12 green tea (Camellia sinensis) samples randomly collected from general stores in 5 Polish cities (Gdańsk, Kraków, Rzeszów,… (n=12) |
| 16 | Kazeminia et al. 2023. Heavy metals and their adverse effects: sources, risks, and strategies to reduce accumulation in tea herb — a systematic review, Carpathian Journal of Food Science and Technology | 2023 | Peer-reviewed | As, Cd, Cr, Pb, Hg, Al, Fe, Ba, Ni, Co concentrations from the cited dataset (n=157) |
| 17 | Meng et al. 2023. The innovative and accurate detection of heavy metals in foods: A critical review on electrochemical sensors, Food Control | 2023 | Review | CN/WHO Pb, Cd, iAs, tHg, Cr, Cr-VI, Cu, Zn, Ag occurrence in Critical review of the electrochemical-sensor literature (through ~2022) for heavy-metal detection in food matrices. |
| 18 | Peng et al. 2023. Aluminum and Fluoride Stresses Altered Organic Acid and Secondary Metabolism in Tea (Camellia sinensis) Plants: Influences on Plant Tolerance, Tea Quality and Safety, International Journal of Molecular Sciences | 2023 | Peer-reviewed | CN Al occurrence in Two-year-old tea seedlings of Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze cv. Shuchazao and Chuyeqi, grown in greenhouse hydroponic culture… |
| 19 | Salmani et al. 2023. Comparison of Essential and Toxic Metals Levels in some Herbal Teas: a Systematic Review, Biological Trace Element Research | 2023 | Review | IR/TR/CN Pb, Cd, tAs, Al, Cr, Ni concentrations (n=49) |
| 20 | USDA 2023. China Releases the Standard for Maximum Levels of Contaminants in Foods (USDA FAS GAIN Report CH2023-0040, unofficial translation of GB 2762-2022), USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN), Report Number CH2023-0040 | 2023 | Regulation | CN Pb, Cd, tHg, MeHg, tAs, iAs, Sn, Ni, Cr occurrence in null |
| 21 | Mohammad et al. 2022. Determination of Lead and Cadmium Concentration in Different Samples of Tea and Coffee Circulating in the Libyan Market, International Journal of Science and Research | 2022 | Peer-reviewed | LY Pb, Cd occurrence in Seventeen tea samples and eleven coffee samples circulating in Tripoli, Libya during 2018-2019 (n=28) |
| 22 | Qinghua et al. 2022. Prediction and Health Risk Assessment of Copper, Lead, Cadmium, Chromium, and Nickel in Tieguanyin Tea: A Case Study from Fujian, China, Foods | 2022 | Peer-reviewed | CN Cu, Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni occurrence in 91 Tieguanyin tea samples (500 g each) randomly collected from tea shops, supermarkets, and tea factories in Fujian… (n=91) |
| 23 | Kowalska 2021. The Safety Assessment of Toxic Metals in Commonly Used Herbs, Spices, Tea, and Coffee in Poland, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | 2021 | Peer-reviewed | PL/EU Cd, Pb, tAs, tHg occurrence in 240 plant material samples from eastern Poland: herbs (n=163), spices (n=61), China tea/green tea (n=8), Arabica roasted coffee… (n=240) |
| 24 | Qinghua et al. 2021. Dietary risk assessment of fluoride, lead, chromium, and cadmium through consumption of Tieguanyin tea and white tea, Food Science and Technology (Campinas) | 2021 | Peer-reviewed | CN Pb, Cd, Cr occurrence in 72 Tieguanyin tea samples (40 from Anxi, 32 from Hua’an) and 40 white tea samples from Fuding, all… (n=112) |
| 25 | Zahra et al. 2020. Magnetic Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Modified with Polythiophene as a Sorbent for Simultaneous Solid Phase Microextraction of Lead and Cadmium from Water and Food Samples, Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry Research | 2020 | Peer-reviewed | IR Pb, Cd occurrence in Black tea, rice, infant dry formula milk, and cow milk samples purchased in Yazd, Iran (n=5) |
| 26 | EL et al. 2020. Aluminum exposure from food in the population of Lebanon, Toxicology Reports | 2020 | Peer-reviewed | LB Al occurrence in Ninety-seven food items collected May–September 2018 from the Beirut retail market (105 sampled; 8 discarded for turbidity), comprising… (n=97) |
| 27 | Erzsebet et al. 2019. Aluminium contamination of several types of tea, Orvostudomanyi Ertesito | 2019 | Peer-reviewed | RO Al occurrence in Green, black, fruit, and herbal tea infusions prepared from sampled tea materials (n=48) |
| 28 | Lee et al. 2019. Effects of food processing methods on migration of heavy metals to food, Applied Biological Chemistry | 2019 | Peer-reviewed | KR Pb, Cd, tAs, Al occurrence in Korean market oilseeds (sesame, perilla, flaxseed), noodles (wheat flour and sweet potato glass), and teas (Sri Lankan black,… (n=27) |
| 29 | Pourramezani et al. 2019. Evaluation of heavy metal concentration in imported black tea in Iran and consumer risk assessments, Food Science & Nutrition | 2019 | Peer-reviewed | IR/IN/LK Pb, Cd, Cu, tAs, tHg occurrence in One hundred twenty-two commercial black tea leaf samples randomly collected from the local market of Hormozgan Province, Iran… (n=122) |
| 30 | Oliveira et al. 2018. Metal concentrations in traditional and herbal teas and their potential risks to human health, Science of the Total Environment | 2018 | Peer-reviewed | US Al, tAs, Cd, Cr, Pb occurrence in Forty-seven tea products collected in the US market, covering 16 herbal teas, 16 black teas, 11 green teas,… (n=47) |
| 31 | Jannat et al. 2018. Determination of trace elements and heavy metals content of green and black tea varieties consumed in Iran, African Journal of Biotechnology | 2018 | Peer-reviewed | IR Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn occurrence in Sixty commercial true-tea samples purchased from local retail markets in Tehran, Iran: 33 black tea and 27 green… (n=60) |
| 32 | Yaqub et al. 2018. Monitoring and risk assessment due to presence of heavy metals and pesticides in tea samples, Food Science and Technology | 2018 | Peer-reviewed | PK Zn, Cr, Cu, Mn, Co concentrations (n=77) |
| 33 | Zhang et al. 2018. Accumulation of Heavy Metals in Tea Leaves and Potential Health Risk Assessment: A Case Study from Puan County, Guizhou Province, China, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | 2018 | Peer-reviewed | CN Al, Pb, Cd, tHg, tAs, Cr, Ni concentrations (n=26) |
| 34 | Hardisson et al. 2017. Aluminium Exposure Through the Diet, HSOA Journal of Food Science and Nutrition | 2017 | Review | ES/DE/AU Al occurrence in Compiled literature review of Al concentrations across food groups and drinks; intake estimated against Spanish population consumption data… |
| 35 | Stahl et al. 2017. Migration of aluminum from food contact materials to food - a health risk for consumers? Part I of III: exposure to aluminum, release of aluminum, tolerable weekly intake (TWI), toxicological effects of aluminum, study design, and methods, Environmental Sciences Europe | 2017 | Peer-reviewed | DE/EU Al occurrence in Hessian State Laboratory aluminum results for 1,825 foodstuff samples across 30 product groups, plus Part I study-design context… (n=1825) |
| 36 | Brzezicha-Cirocka et al. 2016. Monitoring of essential and heavy metals in green tea from different geographical origins, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment | 2016 | Peer-reviewed | CN/IN/JP Cd, Pb, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Co, Mn, Fe concentrations (n=41) |
| 37 | EFSA 2015. Scientific Opinion on the risks to public health related to the presence of nickel in food and drinking water, EFSA Journal 2015;13(2):4002, 202 pp. | 2015 | Government report | EU Ni occurrence in 18,885 food samples and 25,700 drinking water samples (final dataset after exclusions) submitted to EFSA from 15 European… (n=18885) |
| 38 | Li et al. 2015. A comparison of the potential health risk of aluminum and heavy metals in tea leaves and tea infusion of commercially available green tea in Jiangxi, China, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment | 2015 | Peer-reviewed | CN Al, Cd, Cr, Ni, Pb concentrations (n=26) |
| 39 | Mania et al. 2015. Toxic Elements in Commercial Infant Food, Estimated Dietary Intake, and Risk Assessment in Poland, Polish Journal of Environmental Studies | 2015 | Peer-reviewed | PL/EU Pb, Cd, tAs, tHg occurrence in Approximately 1,000 commercial infant-food samples collected from retail markets in all Polish provinces during the 2009-2013 sanitary-epidemiological monitoring… (n=1000) |
| 40 | Li et al. 2013. Determination for major chemical contaminants in tea (Camellia sinensis) matrices: A review, Food Research International | 2013 | Review | CN/IN/TR Pb, Cd, tAs, Cr, Cu concentrations |
| 41 | EFSA 2012. Cadmium dietary exposure in the European population, EFSA Journal 2012;10(1):2551 | 2012 | Government report | EU Cd occurrence in Cadmium occurrence results in food submitted to EFSA from 22 EU Member States, 3 European Economic Area or… (n=178541) |
Who this page is for
Pending. The brand-legal, retailer-compliance, HMTc-internal, and regulator audiences are listed in OPERATING.md Part 2; this section will frame what each is looking for on this page.
Methodology
Pending. This section will state the speciation, basis-preservation, row-fit, and pooling rules from CLAUDE.md Part 6 that govern downstream sections of this page.
Source Evidence Inventory
Hand-curated section. Populated by the synthesis pass as sources contribute.
Broad Product Context: Author-Scope Index
Pending: regenerated by tools/evidence/apply-product-broad-context.mjs once broad-scope sources route to this page.
Levers to reduce contamination
Cat 5 beverage regulatory enforcement covers the FDA Juice HACCP framework (FDA 2004) and 2022 draft Pb-in-juice action levels (FDA 2022) for fruit-juice products, plus EU Reg. 2023/915 Pb-in-juice maximum levels at 30 ppb. The 2019 Mateel Environmental v. Welch Foods California Prop 65 settlement specifically established practical compliance thresholds for grape and other juice products. Tea-and-coffee enforcement is principally California Prop 65 with documented enforcement actions on tea products from Asian importers. Per CLAUDE.md Part 12, individual brand recall actions are not enumerated here.
How standards math uses this page
The percentile arithmetic that informs HMTc thresholds for this product category lives on the staff Standards Workbench (data/workbench/standards/<this-slug>.md). This public page reports literature evidence; the workbench applies the methodology in CLAUDE.md Part 19. The gap between literature evidence and HMTc thresholds is named honestly on the workbench, not hidden.
Historical recalls and enforcement
Cat 5 beverage regulatory enforcement covers the FDA Juice HACCP framework (FDA 2004) and 2022 draft Pb-in-juice action levels (FDA 2022) for fruit-juice products, plus EU Reg. 2023/915 Pb-in-juice maximum levels at 30 ppb. The 2019 Mateel Environmental v. Welch Foods California Prop 65 settlement specifically established practical compliance thresholds for grape and other juice products. Tea-and-coffee enforcement is principally California Prop 65 with documented enforcement actions on tea products from Asian importers. Per CLAUDE.md Part 12, individual brand recall actions are not enumerated here.
Page history
The five most recent substantive edits to this page. The full version history lives in git; when DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.
| Commit | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| b0f3d38 | 2026-06-12 | batch | corpus rescreen b04 old terminal skips |