---
title: "Pet-food contaminant maximum limits compared across six jurisdictions"
author: codebuddy
type: article
series: cross-border-compliance
desc: "Maximum limits for lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury and aflatoxin B1 in pet food under US (FDA), EU (Reg 574/2011), China (宠物饲料卫生规定), Japan (MAFF), Korea (사료관리법) and Brazil (MAPA 1.412/2025) — verbatim from first-hand regulations, with honest gaps where no numeric limit exists."
source_topics: contaminant_matrix_petfood
date: 2026-08-18
---

# Pet-food contaminant maximum limits across six jurisdictions

Maximum limits for the high-frequency pet-food contaminants differ sharply by jurisdiction. Every figure below is a **verbatim quote of the cited first-hand regulation** (mg/kg unless noted; EU uses comma decimals — 0,3 = 0.3). Cells with no retrievable first-hand numeric limit are marked **honest gap** and are not fabricated.

## Lead (Pb)

| Jurisdiction | Limit |
| --- | --- |
| 🇺🇸 US (FDA) | honest gap — no pet-food Pb maximum; above-limit Pb addressed as adulteration under FFDCA §402 |
| 🇪🇺 EU (Reg 574/2011) | **5 mg/kg** (complete feed) |
| 🇨🇳 CN (宠物饲料卫生规定) | **5 mg/kg** (pet compound feed) |
| 🇯🇵 JP (MAFF 成分規格) | **3 mg/kg** (= 3 µg/g) |
| 🇰🇷 KR (사료관리법) | **10 mg/kg** (10 ppm, pet/companion compound feed) |
| 🇧🇷 BR (MAPA 1.412/2025) | honest gap — Portaria covers only aflatoxins |

## Cadmium (Cd)

| Jurisdiction | Limit |
| --- | --- |
| 🇺🇸 US | honest gap — no pet-food Cd maximum |
| 🇪🇺 EU | **2 mg/kg** (complete feed for pet animals) |
| 🇨🇳 CN | **2 mg/kg** |
| 🇯🇵 JP | **1 mg/kg** (= 1 µg/g) |
| 🇰🇷 KR | honest gap — framework only |
| 🇧🇷 BR | honest gap — Portaria covers only aflatoxins |

## Arsenic (As, total)

| Jurisdiction | Limit |
| --- | --- |
| 🇺🇸 US | honest gap — no pet-food As maximum |
| 🇪🇺 EU | **2 mg/kg** (complete feed) |
| 🇨🇳 CN | **2 mg/kg** (ordinary pet compound feed; ≤10 with aquatic/algae ingredients) |
| 🇯🇵 JP | honest gap — not in retrieved MAFF set |
| 🇰🇷 KR | **10 mg/kg** (10 ppm, pet/companion compound feed) |
| 🇧🇷 BR | honest gap — Portaria covers only aflatoxins |

## Mercury (Hg)

| Jurisdiction | Limit |
| --- | --- |
| 🇺🇸 US | honest gap — no pet-food Hg maximum |
| 🇪🇺 EU | **0.3 mg/kg** (compound feed for dogs, cats and fur animals) |
| 🇨🇳 CN | **0.3 mg/kg** |
| 🇯🇵 JP | honest gap — not in retrieved MAFF set |
| 🇰🇷 KR | honest gap — framework only |
| 🇧🇷 BR | honest gap — Portaria covers only aflatoxins |

## Aflatoxin B1

| Jurisdiction | Limit |
| --- | --- |
| 🇺🇸 US (FDA CPG 683.100) | **20 ppb** (= 0.02 mg/kg) total aflatoxins, pets of all ages |
| 🇪🇺 EU (Reg 574/2011) | **0.01 mg/kg** (complementary and complete feed) |
| 🇨🇳 CN (宠物饲料卫生规定) | **10 µg/kg** (= 0.01 mg/kg) |
| 🇯🇵 JP (MAFF 成分規格) | **0.02 mg/kg** (= 20 µg/kg) |
| 🇰🇷 KR (사료관리법) | honest gap — framework only (별표 16 excerpt truncated after As row) |
| 🇧🇷 BR (MAPA 1.412/2025) | **Aflatoxin B1 10 µg/kg** and **total aflatoxin 20 µg/kg** (verbatim in Portuguese) |

## What the gaps tell you

The **US sets no numeric maximum** for Pb, Cd, As or Hg in pet food — those are handled case-by-case as adulteration rather than against a published limit. **Brazil's 2025 Portaria covers only aflatoxins**, not heavy metals. The EU and China are the most complete on heavy metals; Korea fills Pb/As but leaves Cd/Hg as framework-only. The EU's melamine limit is **2.5 mg/kg** (set by Reg (EU) 107/2013, CELEX 32013R0107 — not the sometimes-mis-cited 127/2013).

## Sources

- `contaminant_matrix_petfood` — the full Pb/Cd/As/Hg/Aflatoxin B1/Melamine × US/EU/CN/JP/KR/BR matrix, every cell a verbatim quote of the cited first-hand regulation; honest gaps (US heavy metals, BR non-aflatoxin) explicitly not fabricated; EU melamine 2.5 mg/kg from Reg (EU) 107/2013.