Heavy Metal Index
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Testing

Analytical methods, detection limits and laboratory programs provide context for metal measurements. Coverage includes speciation, sampling, reporting conventions and proficiency testing.

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Overview

Stub. This section is a planned home for analytical-method, detection-limit, and laboratory-program reference content. Pages here will support the wiki’s occurrence-data claims by documenting what analytical confidence those numbers actually carry.

Pages in this section:

  • Tap water lead sampling - Lead concentrations measured in residential, school, institutional, and private well tap water. Coverage includes Lead and Copper Rule first-draw sampling protocols, the effect of flushing on measured concentrations, corrosion control approaches, and evidence from vulnerable settings.

Planned topics:

  • ICP-MS — Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry - Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, the dominant trace-metal analytical method underlying nearly all post-2000 food-occurrence datasets cited in this wiki.
  • EN 1811 Nickel Release Testing - nickel release from skin-contact articles and piercing post assemblies, reported as µg/cm2/week rather than food ppb.
  • HPLC-ICP-MS arsenic speciation methods (separating inorganic arsenic (iAs) from organic arsenic (As) species) - covered as a hyphenated configuration on the ICP-MS page; a dedicated speciation page is planned.
  • AOAC and EPA validated methods commonly cited in regulatory documents.
  • Round-robin and proficiency-testing programs (FAPAS and others) that bound inter-laboratory variability.
  • Field-sampling and homogenization considerations specific to heavy-metal occurrence surveys.
  • Reporting-limit conventions and the treatment of left-censored data in occurrence statistics.

External references this section will draw on:

References

Works cited in this page’s text, in first-appearance order. Each title links to a source record with bibliographic details, reported findings, and document provenance.

  1. Zinc and Cadmium Compounds (Chapter Seven), in Patty’s Toxicology, Sixth EditionJakubowski M · John Wiley & Sons, Inc · 2012 · doi.org/10.1002/0471435139.tox029.pub2Textbook
  2. Total Diet Study Report: Fiscal Years 2018-2020 Elements DataU.S. Food and Drug Administration · 2022 · www.fda.govGovernment
  3. General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed (CXS 193-1995)Codex Alimentarius Commission · Codex Alimentarius (Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme) · 1995 · www.fao.orgGovernment

Update history

No substantive edit history is available in this build. The full commit record is available in git.

15 items under this folder.

  • Tap water lead sampling

    Lead enters tap water from distribution and plumbing materials rather than from most source waters, which are naturally low in lead. Lead service lines

    Updated

    • Aluminum analytical methods

      This bibliography retains the analyte species, matrix and method validation in each source record. Total-element results are not substituted for species

      Updated

      • Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS)

        This method index groups the historical AAS, atomic absorption spectroscopy and atomic absorption spectrophotometry references. Flame, furnace and

        Updated

        • Chromium analytical methods and speciation

          This bibliography retains the analyte species, matrix and method validation in each source record. Total-element results are not substituted for species

          Updated

          • Electrochemical metal detection

            The indexed grain method uses purification before portable electrochemical measurement; its validation is not generalized to other food matrices.

            Updated

            • Fluorescence sensors for metals

              The source records describe particular sensor systems, analytes and food matrices; a sensing demonstration is not a general validated compliance method.

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              • ICP-OES — optical emission spectrometry

                ICP-OES is indexed separately from ICP-MS. Instrument performance, digestion and sample matrices remain specific to each source.

                Updated

                • Mercury analytical methods

                  This bibliography retains the analyte species, matrix and method validation in each source record. Total-element results are not substituted for species

                  Updated

                  • Nickel analytical methods

                    This bibliography retains the analyte species, matrix and method validation in each source record. Total-element results are not substituted for species

                    Updated

                    • Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)

                      The indexed paper is platform background involving ammonium nitrate and aluminum structures. It does not validate a heavy-metal assay in food.

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                      • Synchrotron X-ray fluorescence mapping

                        Spatial mapping of rice-grain sections remains distinct from routine bulk-food concentration testing.

                        Updated

                        • Total diet study methodology

                          The indexed historical dietary survey is retained with its collection period, prepared-food grouping and exposure assumptions.

                          Updated

                          • X-ray fluorescence (XRF)

                            The indexed records retain their matrix and validation. XRF screening or spatial measurements are not assumed interchangeable with digestion-based ICP-MS.

                            Updated

                            • ICP-MS — Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

                              Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry is the dominant analytical method for trace heavy metal quantification in food, water, biological tissue, and

                              Updated

                              • EN 1811 Nickel Release Testing

                                EN 1811 is the nickel-release method discussed in LGC 2003 for products intended to come into direct and prolonged contact with the skin. In the report’s

                                NiUpdated