Glossary · Method
ICP-MS
Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. The gold-standard method for measuring heavy metals in supplements at parts-per-billion.
Plain language
The most sensitive heavy-metals test labs commonly run on supplements. If a COA uses ICP-MS and the metals are 'below limit of quantification', that is as clean as a result gets.
Definition
Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry is an analytical technique that ionizes a sample in argon plasma and separates ions by mass-to-charge ratio. In supplement testing it is the standard method for measuring heavy metals (lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic) at parts-per-billion sensitivity, well below the USP-grade thresholds that supplement COAs are screened against.