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Some analyses of shilajit have reported lead, arsenic or mercury above the limits their authors applied, and others have reported levels they judged low. The US programme OPSS says shilajit can contain lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury. No report speaks for a product it did not test, and the label items the FSA and FDA list include no metal result. This page sets out what named sources found, what regulators limit and how to read a lab report.
We sell one shilajit product, Satiovex Himalayan Shilajit Resin. This page makes no claim about it: it reports what other people measured.
What published analyses of shilajit have found
The studies differ in country, year, sample count, method and the limit applied, so read the rows as separate findings, not an average.
| Source | Samples and method | Reported | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rahim et al., 2016 | 2 samples from Gilgit and Chellas, Pakistan; atomic absorption | Lead 0.8 and 2.3 mg/kg (our conversion of 0.00008% and 0.00023%); nickel and copper not detected; authors judged levels within WHO limits | Two samples; no cadmium, mercury or arsenic result |
| Aldakheel et al., 2022 | Shilajit from India and Pakistan; LIBS, ICP-OES/MS and EDX | Lead, arsenic and mercury among elements said to exceed "the standard permissible limit"; mercury found only in the Indian shilajit | Abstract gives no sample count or limits |
| Kamgar et al., 2025 | 13 crude samples from Iran, India, Nepal, Russia and Kyrgyzstan, plus supplements bought online; thallium by voltammetry | Up to 0.226 µg/g in crude samples and up to 0.5 µg/g in supplements; some supplements higher than crude shilajit | Thallium only; two crude samples and one supplement below detection |
| Kamgar et al., 2026 | 12 samples of diverse origins; ICP-MS | Toxic metals present below established toxicity thresholds | Abstract does not give the thresholds |
| CVUA Stuttgart, 2026 | 12 samples: 8 anonymous internet samples, 2 from the sellers, 1 retail, 1 pharmacy | None showed an excessive heavy-metal load | Report gives no limits or element list for this finding |
| ConsumerLab, 2024 | 8 supplements, including resins, bought and tested by a testing company | Lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury beneath its levels of concern at one dose a day | Public release only; full report paywalled; the company sells memberships |
| Hussain and Saeed, 2024 | Review of earlier papers | Metals mostly below the WHO and FDA limits it cites, except in a few studies | Not new measurements; we did not check the limits cited |
Other supplements. Saper and colleagues (JAMA, 2008) requested 230 randomly selected Ayurvedic medicines from websites in 2005, received and analysed 193 by X-ray fluorescence, and found detectable lead, mercury or arsenic in 20.7%. The study was not about shilajit specifically. Its method could report lead only at or above 5 µg/g, mercury at or above 20 and arsenic at or above 10.
Why shilajit can carry metals, and what "purified" means
OPSS says shilajit seeps from sedimentary rocks, develops from decomposing plant and animal matter, and can contain minerals and metals such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury. Kamgar and colleagues (2025) wrote that shilajit from one mountain differs in composition from shilajit from another, or from a different rock in the same region, and tied the variation in thallium to local geology and soil. CVUA Stuttgart wrote that composition probably also depends on origin, processing and purification.
OPSS describes shilajit extract as obtained by washing and filtering debris and impurities from raw shilajit. We found no study that measured the same batch raw and then purified, and the 2025 thallium study found some supplements higher than crude shilajit. So "purified" on a label describes a process, not a result.
What regulators set for lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic
Regulation (EU) 2023/915 sets maximum levels for food supplements in mg/kg, applied to the food "as placed on the market" (Article 2(3)). Because 1 mg/kg is 1 µg of metal per gram of product, the same limits can be written as a percentage of weight.
| Metal | EU maximum for food supplements | As a percentage of weight |
|---|---|---|
| Lead | 3.0 mg/kg (entry 3.1.28) | 0.0003% |
| Cadmium | 1.0 mg/kg (entry 3.2.21.1); 3.0 for supplements of at least 80% dried seaweed, seaweed products or dried bivalve molluscs | 0.0001% |
| Mercury | 0.10 mg/kg (entry 3.3.2) | 0.00001% |
| Arsenic | We found no food-supplement entry in section 3.4 | Not applicable |
The Regulation does not name shilajit, and thallium is not among the metals it covers. For the United States we found no single FDA maximum for these metals in supplements; FDA's manufacturing rule (21 CFR 111.70) instead requires each manufacturer to set specifications that include limits on contamination. We could not open the Great Britain legislation site, so we give no Great Britain figure.
Can you test shilajit for heavy metals at home?
OPSS says that without laboratory testing there is no way to know a shilajit product's ingredients, their amounts or whether it is free of heavy metals. FDA says consumers may contact the manufacturer or a commercial laboratory for an analysis of a product's content. The studies above used laboratory methods: atomic absorption, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), voltammetry, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and X-ray fluorescence. We found no home test described in the sources we opened.
What a lab report should show
We found no regulator's guide to reading a supplement report, so this is general education drawn from the sources above. Check that it gives:
- The laboratory. Its name, and whether it states an accreditation and which tests that covers. ILAC, the international body for accreditation bodies, describes accreditation as an independent evaluation against recognised standards to carry out specific activities, and names ISO/IEC 17025 for testing laboratories.
- The lot. A lot is one batch (Directive 2011/91/EU), so the report should name the lot printed on your pack, with the sampling and report dates.
- The method and the elements. The list matters: the 2025 study measured thallium, which the EU supplement limits do not cover, and CVUA found other contaminants too. All 12 of its products contained foreign substances, and 4 of 12 had mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOSH) of up to 290 mg/kg.
- Units and the reporting limit. 1 mg/kg = 1 µg/g = 1 ppm, and 1% = 10,000 mg/kg. "Not detected" is only as good as the method's floor: Saper's method could not report lead below 5 µg/g, which is above the EU supplement maximum of 3.0 µg/g.
- The limit used. The regulation or threshold the result is compared with, named.
What a label does not have to tell you
The FSA's list of items for a supplement label and FDA's list for US labels include no contaminant results. Kamgar and colleagues (2025) reported that the packages of the supplements they bought online gave no information about chemical composition, including heavy metals content (five supplements, not a market-wide figure). A percentage on a label raises the same question of what it measures: see reading a percentage figure on a shilajit label, and our buying guide for the other label checks.
Who should ask a doctor or pharmacist first?
FDA's consumer advice is to talk to a doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional before deciding to purchase or use a dietary supplement, because some supplements might interact with medicines or other supplements. OPSS tells service members to exercise caution when choosing products containing shilajit. The product page for our pot says it is not for under-18s and that anyone pregnant, breastfeeding or on medication should consult a doctor.
What this page says about our pot
Nothing about its metal content. The label facts and warnings on the product page are the only facts we state about it, and the testing note under "How we checked this page" says what this page does and does not claim. To read any resin label line by line, see what shilajit resin is and how to read the label.
Questions about heavy metals in shilajit
Does shilajit contain heavy metals?
Some analyses have found them and others have not. OPSS says shilajit can contain lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury, and the studies above range from levels the authors judged low to levels above the limits they applied. Only an analysis of a given lot shows what that lot holds.
Is purified shilajit free of heavy metals?
We found no study that compared the same batch raw and then purified, so we cannot say. The 2025 thallium study found some supplements higher than crude shilajit. Treat "purified" as a description of a process.
How can I test shilajit for heavy metals at home?
We found no home test in the sources we opened. OPSS says there is no way to know without laboratory testing, and FDA says consumers may contact the manufacturer or a commercial laboratory.
What is the legal limit for lead in shilajit?
The EU maximum for lead in food supplements is 3.0 mg/kg (Regulation 2023/915, entry 3.1.28). The Regulation does not name shilajit, and we give no Great Britain or US figure.
What should a heavy metals report include?
The laboratory and any accreditation scope, the lot and dates, the method and elements, units and reporting limit, and the limit used. CVUA noted that the certificates it could view covered only microbiological purity or heavy metals, which does not show the whole picture.
To hold our facts against this page, see the 30 g resin pot on its product page; return terms are in the refund policy.
How we checked this page
- Sources opened. On 10 October 2026 we read the OPSS shilajit page (posted 17 September 2024); Regulation (EU) 2023/915 (the text of 25 April 2023 as published in the EU Journal); the CVUA Stuttgart report (published 29 April 2026, in German; the English wording here is our translation); ConsumerLab's public release of 26 September 2024; the 2025 thallium paper and the 2016 Pakistani paper in full; FDA's questions and answers on dietary supplements (current as of 27 August 2026); 21 CFR 111.70; the FSA guidance on GOV.UK; ILAC's about page; Directive 2011/91/EU; and the PubMed abstracts of the other papers named (plus the methods section of Saper et al.).
- What we could not find. The full text of the 2022, 2024 and 2026 papers, and so the limits they applied; any Great Britain contaminant limit for supplements (the legislation site did not load); any single FDA maximum; any study of the same batch raw and then purified; any home test; and any regulator's guide to reading a report. ConsumerLab's full report is paywalled.
- Review. No doctor, pharmacist, toxicologist or other clinician reviewed this page.
- Who we are. Satiovex products are sold by Xinop LLC, trading as Satiovex. We run this site and have a financial interest in the products.
- Testing. This page does not claim independent testing for any product we sell.
- Corrections. If something here is wrong, contact us and we will check it.
Last updated 10 October 2026 by the Satiovex editorial team.
Sources
- Operation Supplement Safety, Shilajit as a Dietary Supplement Ingredient.
- Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915 on maximum levels for certain contaminants in food.
- CVUA Stuttgart, Shilajit: der neueste Sh*t (29 April 2026, in German).
- ConsumerLab, public news release of 26 September 2024.
- Kamgar E et al., Quantifying of thallium in Shilajit and its supplements, BMC Chemistry 2025;19:20.
- US Food and Drug Administration, Questions and Answers on Dietary Supplements.
- Papers (by journal and DOI): Rahim M et al., J Phys Sci 2016;27(2):139-144, 10.21315/jps2016.27.2.10; Aldakheel RK et al., Biol Trace Elem Res 2022;200:4199-4216, 10.1007/s12011-021-03014-4; Hussain A, Saeed A, Biol Trace Elem Res 2024;202:5794-5814, 10.1007/s12011-024-04109-4; Kamgar E et al., J Trace Elem Med Biol 2026;96:127913, 10.1016/j.jtemb.2026.127913; Saper RB et al., JAMA 2008;300:915-923, 10.1001/jama.300.8.915.
- Rules and guidance: 21 CFR 111.70; Directive 2011/91/EU, Article 1(2); Food Standards Agency, Food supplements: guidance for businesses (GOV.UK); ILAC, About ILAC.