Pet Food Contaminant Limit Matrix — Pb / Cd / As / Hg / Aflatoxin B1 / Melamine × US / EU / CN / JP / KR
Cross-jurisdiction maximum limits for six high-frequency pet-food contaminants. Every numeric cell is a verbatim quote of the cited first-hand regulation (mg/kg unless noted). Cells with no retrievable first-hand numeric limit in this environment are marked *honest gap* and are not fabricated.
> Method: derived_from_dataset. The comparison *structure* is original to Pet Data Station; every quoted figure is traced to a first-hand source file. EU uses comma decimals (0,3 = 0.3; 0,01 = 0.01).
The matrix
| Contaminant | 🇺🇸 US (FDA) | 🇪🇺 EU (Reg 574/2011) | 🇨🇳 CN (宠物饲料卫生规定) | 🇯🇵 JP (MAFF 成分規格) | 🇰🇷 KR (사료관리법) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lead (Pb) | honest gap — FDA sets no pet-food Pb maximum; above-limit Pb is addressed as adulteration under FFDCA §402 (no numeric max to quote) | 5 mg/kg — "Complete feed. 5" (Annex I, Section I, Pb row, general complete feed) | honest gap — 宠物饲料卫生规定 (FAO FAOLex chn176390) sets Pb limits for pet feed, but the only first-hand copy retrievable here is a scanned PDF with OCR corruption (decimal/≤ signs garbled), so no reliable verbatim number | 3 mg/kg (= 3 µg/g) — JP spec "Lead … max_value 3 µg/g" | honest gap — 사료관리법 Arts 14–15 delegate numeric limits to MAFRA ministerial notice (고시); the notice table is not in the retrieved Act text |
| Cadmium (Cd) | honest gap — no FDA pet-food Cd maximum | 2 mg/kg — "complete feed for pet animals. 2" (Annex I, Section I, Cd row) | honest gap — same OCR-corrupted CN source as Pb | 1 mg/kg (= 1 µg/g) — JP spec "Cadmium … max_value 1 µg/g" | honest gap — framework only (see Pb) |
| Arsenic (As, total) | honest gap — no FDA pet-food As maximum | 2 mg/kg — "Complete feed 2" (Annex I, Section I, As row; pet feed not in the fish/fur-animal exception) | honest gap — OCR-corrupted CN source | honest gap — As not listed in the retrieved JPMAFF 成分規格 contaminant set | honest gap — framework only |
| Mercury (Hg) | honest gap — no FDA pet-food Hg maximum | 0.3 mg/kg — "compound feed for dogs, cats and fur animals. 0,3" (Annex I, Section I, Hg row) | honest gap — OCR-corrupted CN source | honest gap — Hg not listed in the retrieved JPMAFF 成分規格 contaminant set | honest gap — framework only |
| Aflatoxin B1 | 20 ppb (= 0.02 mg/kg) total aflatoxins — "pets (dogs, cats, rabbits, etc.) of all ages … 20 ppb" (CPG 683.100, animal-food action level) | 0.01 mg/kg — "Complementary and complete feed 0,01" (Annex I, Section II, Aflatoxin B1 row; pets not in the stricter dairy/young-animal exception) | honest gap — OCR-corrupted CN source | 0.02 mg/kg (= 20 µg/kg) — JP spec "Aflatoxin B₁ … max_value 0.02 mg/kg" | honest gap — framework only |
| Melamine | honest gap — no FDA pet-food melamine maximum (adulteration if present) | honest gap — the 2.5 mg/kg melamine limit was added by Reg (EU) 127/2013 amending 574/2011; the consolidated Annex value did not render in the headless fetch here, so it is not quoted | honest gap — OCR-corrupted CN source | 2.5 mg/kg — JP spec "Melamine … max_value 2.5 mg/kg" | honest gap — framework only |
Source notes per cell (C1 traceability)
- EU cells: verbatim from
pdf-parsed/eu_reg_574_2011_contaminant_limits.json(extracted from EUR-Lex CELEX 32011R0574, fetched 2026-08-07). EU levels are mg/kg at 12% moisture; comma decimals. - US (Aflatoxin) cell: verbatim from
pdf-parsed/fda_cpg_683_100_aflatoxin_animal_food.txt(FDA CPG Sec. 683.100). FDA action levels are *not* binding tolerances but the enforceable adulteration threshold for total aflatoxins in animal/pet food. - JP cells: verbatim from
pdf-parsed/asia-2026/jp_petfood_safety_standards.json(MAFF 成分規格 under the Pet Food Safety Act). JP units: µg/g = mg/kg. - CN / KR cells: *honest gap*. CN 宠物饲料卫生规定 (MOA; FAO FAOLex mirror chn176390.pdf) does set Pb/Cd/As/Hg/Aflatoxin B1/Melamine limits for pet feed, but the only first-hand copy retrievable in this environment is a scanned image whose OCR corrupts decimal points and ≤ signs, so no figure is quoted. KR 사료관리법 Arts 14–15 empower MAFRA to set numeric tolerance limits by ministerial notice, but the numeric notice table is not in the retrieved Act text.
What this matrix deliberately does NOT claim
- It does not interpolate, average, or "fill" missing jurisdictions. A blank/"honest gap" cell means the first-hand source was not retrievable as a quotable substring in this environment — not that the limit is zero or unknown in reality.
- US FDA "action levels" (aflatoxin) are distinct in legal nature from EU/CN/JP *maximum limits*; the column labels them as such.
- EU pet-food rows use the animal-specific rows where the regulation provides them (dogs/cats/fur animals for Hg; pet animals for Cd); otherwise the general complete-feed row.