Bone broth lab test findings aren’t unusual for animal-derived products that aren’t organic

Because it’s important for consumers to understand the context of lab test results, I wanted to make sure the recent bone broth lab tests conducted and published by the Consumer Wellness Center are fully understood. It is not unusual for non-organic, animal-derived products to test positive for antibiotics, hormones, food service insect repellents and pharmacological drugs. In fact, this is the norm across the conventional animal industry, where chickens, cows, pigs and other animals are routinely treated with such chemicals.

No one familiar with conventional food production from animal sources should be surprised at the results that were reported. When these chemicals are fed to animals, many of those chemicals end up in the bones and connective tissue of those animals. The bone broth extraction process typically boils these bone and ligament scraps in water, extracting the bone “broth” but also extracting water-soluble chemicals that might also be present. This is how chemicals that are fed to animals end up in bone broth products.

If the CWC were to test beef jerky products, the results would likely be very similar. Any time you’re purchasing and consuming conventional products derived from animals, you are exposing yourself to a battery of chemicals that are used in conventional meat production and animal ranching.

Nearly all non-organic food products carry a battery of synthetic chemicals

All this underscores the importance of choosing organic wherever possible. To my knowledge, two USDA organic bone broth products are now available in the marketplace. We have acquired those products and will be testing them soon, then sharing the results with you. Although I will let the science speak for itself, it is my hope that these products will be free from all the chemicals that were detected in the non-organic bone broth products. That would give consumers a clear choice in more pristine bone broth products that do not contain the chemicals found in non-organic products.

Similarly, if you’re eating non-organic produce, you are no doubt eating pesticides and fungicides in very large quantities. Conventionally grown strawberries and parsley, for example, are inundated with pesticide chemicals. This should be common knowledge, but it’s something people tend to forget for the simple reason that pesticides are invisible to the human eye. People are often deceived by the “freshness” look of the produce, because chemical pesticides and fungicides kill off the pests that might eat small holes in the apples or broccoli, for example. Thus, the more “clean” the produce looks, the more it might actually be saturated with toxic pesticides. (Authentic organic produce can often look less appealing visually, but it’s actually far cleaner and healthier for you.)

In summary, keep in mind that finding antibiotics and insect repellent in non-organic bone broth products should surprise no one. If it comes from animals — and it’s not organic — it will almost always carry a considerable array of synthetic chemicals used in the animal food production industry.

UPDATE: 10/22/2017

As the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, I’m excited to bring you this announcement: We’re now publishing final bone broth lab test results for 10 products — 2 organic and 8 non-organic — using our new, streamlined reporting format that covers pesticides, heavy metals, pharmacological chemicals and more.

All results are being released this week via Good Gopher Mail, a free inbox service for uncensored email receiving. Register your free inbox at Good Gopher Mail to receive all these lab test results and other results as we move forward. We’re testing Pop-Tarts, gluten-free foods, dog food and salad dressings next. Also scheduled for testing are breakfast cereals and more nutritional supplements.

New reporting format simplifies each product with a final score based on lab science

These results use our new reporting format (see examples below) and cover bone broth products from Left Coast, Jarrow’s, Ancient Nutrition, LonoLife, Precision Naturals and other manufacturers. Our new format is an attempt to improve our reporting to better communicate our findings with consumers. To accomplish that, we calculate a final score from 1 – 100 for each product. This final score is the first number you see at the very top of each chart as shown below.

So far, we’ve had two products achieve a perfect score (100), and they are both organic bone broth products (see below). The conventional (non-organic) bone broth products tested by the CWC, as we previously reported, contained trace levels of various chemicals such as insect repellents, pharmacological chemicals and others. What’s especially fascinating here is that the lab tests are confirming the advantage of certified organic products.

Remember: Sign up at Good Gopher Mail to receive all our lab test results as we publish. Lots more product are in the testing queue right now, and those results will be published via Good Gopher Mail.

Here are the two products that have so far received a perfect score of 100 out of 100 (lot numbers are being added shortly but may not yet be reflected in the charts below):

Ancient Nutrition: Organic Bone Broth Collagen

Testing Date: 10/13/2017
Lot Number:
Sample Number:

Certified Organic:

Labeled Non-GMO:

Ingredients Rating:

Low Heavy Metals Rating:

Pesticides/Herbicides:

Fungicides:

Antibiotics / Antibacterials:

Pharmacological Drugs:

Toxicological Drugs:

Industrial Chemicals:

All testing conducted in the public interest by the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center using an ISO-accredited laboratory, via mass spec technology. Consumer Wellness Center testing results explained | Manufacturers: How to dispute these results

Left Coast: Organic Grass-Fed Bone Broth Powder

Testing Date: 10/20/2017
Lot Number:
Sample Number:

Certified Organic:

Labeled Non-GMO:

Ingredients Rating:

Low Heavy Metals Rating:

Pesticides/Herbicides:

Fungicides:

Antibiotics / Antibacterials:

Pharmacological Drugs:

Toxicological Drugs:

Industrial Chemicals:

All testing conducted in the public interest by the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center using an ISO-accredited laboratory, via mass spec technology. Consumer Wellness Center testing results explained | Manufacturers: How to dispute these results