What's in your food that isn't on the label?
Food labels list ingredients—not contaminants. Lead, arsenic, PFAS, and pesticide residues end up in products because of how they're grown, processed, and packaged. The only way to know is to test.
The Problem
Today, manufacturers test their own products and don't publish the results. There's no independent check. Labels like “organic” or country of origin don't reliably predict contaminant levels.
When independent labs do test, they consistently find that contaminant levels vary widely between brands—and lower-contamination options usually exist. The data is actionable. It just doesn't exist for most products yet. That's the gap Canopy is designed to close.
Examples of what independent testing has found:
Lead in Cinnamon
The FDA has issued multiple alerts for ground cinnamon with elevated lead levels, believed to be intentionally added as a coloring agent.
Heavy Metals in Dark Chocolate
Consumer Reports tested 28 dark chocolate bars and found lead and cadmium levels varied widely across brands.
Heavy Metals in Baby Food
A 2021 Congressional investigation found elevated arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury in baby foods from major brands.
None of these findings came from the manufacturers.
Canopy crowdfunds independent contaminant testing of everyday products.
You tell us what you buy, we send it to an accredited lab, and the results are published for everyone.
Some level of contamination is unavoidable—but what's safe for one person isn't necessarily safe for another. A pregnant woman, a toddler, and a healthy adult all have different thresholds. Canopy gives you the actual numbers so you can decide what's acceptable for you and your family.
Here's how it works:
1
Tell us what you buy
Submit a product and choose which contaminants to test for.
2
Fund it together
Others who buy the same product pledge alongside you, splitting the cost.
3
Get your results
An accredited lab tests the product and publishes the results— with "lines of concern" to understand what's acceptable for you and your family.
Tested by independent third-party labs
Canopy doesn't run any tests itself—every product goes to an independent, accredited third-party lab. The samples are anonymized, so the lab has no clue which brands it's testing, and Canopy has no stake in whether a product passes or fails. The numbers you see are just the numbers.
Bought off the shelf
We purchase the same product you would, like any other customer. Brands can't prepare a special sample, hand-pick a “clean” batch, or opt out of a result they don't like.
Accredited, standardized methods
Our partner labs are accredited to recognized standards (such as ISO/IEC 17025, the international standard for testing labs) and use validated, published methods—so the same sample run twice gives the same answer.
Published exactly as reported
Results go up the way the lab reports them—favorable or not. We never edit, withhold, or spin findings to protect a brand or to chase a headline.
Manufacturers test their own products and keep the results private. Canopy hands the job to a neutral lab and makes the answers public.
What goes into a test campaign's funding goal?
Every goal is based on the actual costs of running that specific test. No markup beyond what it takes to get the test done and keep Canopy running.
What we test
We currently test food products, with plans to expand into toiletries, cosmetics, clothing, and cleaning supplies.
Heavy Metals Panel
Tests for lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury — toxic metals that can accumulate in the body over time and cause neurological, kidney, and developmental harm, even at low levels.
How The Test Is Performed
The food sample is broken down with acid, then heated into a plasma (an extremely hot gas) that strips the metals into individual atoms. A detector (ICP-MS) then counts each type of metal atom, identifying exactly how much lead, arsenic, cadmium, or mercury is present — even at parts-per-billion levels.
Good foods to test
- •Baby food & infant formula
- •Rice & rice-based products
- •Chocolate & cocoa products
- •Spices (turmeric, cinnamon, oregano)
- •Root vegetables (sweet potatoes, carrots)
- •Fruit juices (apple, grape)
- •Protein powders
Heavy Metals Panel
Tests for lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury — toxic metals that can accumulate in the body over time and cause neurological, kidney, and developmental harm, even at low levels.
How The Test Is Performed
The food sample is broken down with acid, then heated into a plasma (an extremely hot gas) that strips the metals into individual atoms. A detector (ICP-MS) then counts each type of metal atom, identifying exactly how much lead, arsenic, cadmium, or mercury is present — even at parts-per-billion levels.
Good foods to test
- •Baby food & infant formula
- •Rice & rice-based products
- •Chocolate & cocoa products
- •Spices (turmeric, cinnamon, oregano)
- •Root vegetables (sweet potatoes, carrots)
- •Fruit juices (apple, grape)
- •Protein powders
Stay in the loop
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