Heavy Metals

If you have identified your sample, then assayed to ensure it is the purity you want, you might think that is good enough. However, another aspect of quality control that many people miss is contaminant testing. Just because you have a real batch of L-theanine that meets your purity standards does NOT mean there are not trace level contaminants that can harm you. Heavy metals testing is one of those trace level tests that need to be performed on every batch. Heavy metals testing is done using ICP-MS at extremely tight detection limits. This is because heavy metals like mercury or lead can harm you even at levels that would not make your assay fail. Also, not all heavy metals are the same. For example, arsenic can be found in both organic and inorganic forms. Inorganic arsenic is very toxic, while organic is not. If you find arsenic in something like L-theanine, you can be almost positive it is in inorganic form, as the process used to make theanine does not result in organic arsenic. However, krill oil is naturally higher in organic forms of arsenic, like arsenobetaine and arsenocholine. The only way to tell the difference is by doing a speciation analysis. This is a lot more specialized and time-consuming method, but will tell you exactly which type of arsenic is in your sample. At Omnient Labs, we know when and why a specific method or methodology change is needed to ensure your products are safe.