Shilajit Heavy Metals: How to Read a Lab Report (with Calculator)

Shilajit (salajeet in Urdu) forms over centuries from plant matter pressed into mountain rock. That rock is why every jar contains some lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury. The question a buyer should ask is not “does it contain heavy metals?” but “how much is in the amount I take each day?” A lab report answers that, if you know how to read it. This guide shows you how, and the calculator below does the arithmetic for any brand’s report.

The calculator

Take the heavy-metal section of a Shilajit lab report and type in the four results. Choose your daily dose. The calculator shows what that dose contains and compares it with the daily limits for supplements.

What ppm means

Lab reports give metals as ppm (parts per million). On a report, ppm, mg/kg and µg/g are the same thing: micrograms of metal in every gram of resin. That makes the arithmetic short:

• Micrograms per day = ppm × grams you take.
• A typical dose of 300 to 500 mg is 0.3 to 0.5 grams, so at 500 mg you take in half the ppm number.
• Some reports use ppb (parts per billion, µg/kg). Divide ppb by 1,000 to get ppm.

Example: a report shows 2 ppm lead. At 500 mg a day, that is 2 × 0.5 = 1 microgram of lead a day.

The limits to compare with

The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) chapter <2232> sets daily limits for metals in dietary supplements. They are the most widely used benchmark for products like Shilajit:

Two details are worth knowing. First, the arsenic limit is for inorganic arsenic, while most reports measure total arsenic; comparing total arsenic with the limit therefore overstates the risk a little, which is the safe direction. Second, stricter benchmarks exist. California’s Proposition 65, for example, uses 0.5 µg of lead a day as its warning level. A product can be well inside the USP limit and still above that one.

How to check a lab report in five steps

1. The lab is named and independent. Look for a known lab (such as Eurofins, SGS, Midwest Laboratories or PCSIR) and a report number. A table on a website with no lab name is not a lab report.
2. The sample is identified. A sample name, a sample or batch code, the date the lab received it and the date it was analysed.
3. Each metal has a number, a unit and a method. Lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury, each with a result, the detection or reporting limit and the method (usually ICP-MS). “Passed” without numbers tells you nothing.
4. You know whose name is on it. Many brands buy resin from a supplier, so the report may be issued to that supplier. That is normal when the brand says so openly.
5. The website matches the report. Zoom in on the scan and compare. If the website says one number and the report says another, trust the report.

“Not detected” is not zero

When a lab writes “not detected”, “ND”, “BLQ” (below the limit of quantification) or “< 0.01”, the metal was below the smallest amount its method can measure. The true amount could be anywhere from zero up to that limit. The careful way to use such a result, and the way the calculator works, is to count it at the limit itself.

What one report can and cannot tell you

Labs test what they receive. Most reports state that the sample was sent by the customer (“not sampled by the lab”) and that results apply only to that sample. Shilajit is a natural product, so batches differ. A review of published Shilajit tests by scientists at Pakistan’s PCSIR, and a study of samples from different regions, found that most were within international limits, but the review also found samples that were not (Hussain & Saeed, 2024; Kamgar et al., 2026). Another study found more thallium, a toxic metal not on most reports, in some processed Shilajit supplements than in raw resin (Kamgar et al., 2025). That is why a recent report, a batch code and repeated testing over time are worth more than a single old certificate.

A worked example: Purkafoor’s two reports

Here is how this works on real reports. Purkafoor resin comes from Himalayan Foods (Pvt) Ltd in Gilgit, and both reports below are issued to that company. The full scans are on our lab report page.

What this shows, and what it does not:

• Both samples sit well under every USP daily limit. The highest figure, lead in the 2022 sample, is a fifth of the USP limit at 500 mg a day.
• That 2022 lead figure (1.0 µg a day) is above California’s stricter 0.5 µg level. The 2024 sample had no measurable lead.
• These are two samples, tested two years apart, and neither lab collected the sample itself. They do not prove that every jar has the same result. Fulvic acid was not measured in either report.

Press “Try a real report” in the calculator above to see these numbers worked out for 300, 500 or 1,000 mg.

Red flags

• A “lab tested” badge with no report to see.
• A report with the lab name, dates or sample code cut off.
• Only “Pass” or “Complies”, with no numbers.
• A fulvic acid percentage on the website that appears nowhere in the report.
• Numbers on the website that are lower than the numbers on the scan.

For the rest of the buying checklist (form, origin, price per gram and home tests), see the buyer’s guide to Shilajit in Pakistan. Home tests can catch obvious fakes, but they cannot measure metals: see how to identify real Shilajit (Roman Urdu: asli salajeet ki pehchan).

Shilajit is a food supplement, not a medicine. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking medication or have a kidney or other medical condition, speak to your doctor before taking it. See how to take Shilajit for dosage.

New to Shilajit? Start with the complete guide to Himalayan Shilajit.