Scope
The guideline applies to health supplements, traditional medicines, medicated oils and balms, and medicated plasters covered by HSA testing requirements.
Exact limit and units
| Metal | Matrix | Limit | Unit | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenic | HS, TM, MOB and medicated plasters | 5 | parts per million | By weight |
| Cadmium | HS, TM, MOB and medicated plasters | 0.3 | parts per million | By weight |
| Lead | HS, TM, MOB and medicated plasters | 10 | parts per million | By weight |
| Mercury | HS, TM, MOB and medicated plasters | 0.5 | parts per million | By weight |
How tested
The guideline says heavy metals testing should be conducted on finished products and that test reports should state quantitative results and limits of detection.
Enforcement posture
The guideline is HSA compliance guidance for dealers and sellers. It is loaded as a guidance impurity limit because it gives product testing limits rather than a general food maximum level.
History of changes
The version extracted is dated November 2024 and notes added diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol limits in that revision.
How it compares
The Singapore HSA values match the generic ASEAN health-supplement values for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury.
Sources
Update history
The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and 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.