The evidence
What we found, with the study behind each finding.
One claim per card, and every number behind it: the study or survey, how many people or samples, the dose tested, the arithmetic. Each card is checked against its sources, in English and in French, before it goes up.
Each card is stamped with the data and method version it was written against. Its page says whether it still holds on the versions the site is on now.
Food safety
What comes with a food: the grams it takes to reach a health limit or, where no intake is known to be safe, how much a serving adds.
- Fish mercury: how many grams a week reach the limitAs audited on 2026-10-17, counted eaten alone, from zero: Reaching the mercury limit takes about 7 kg of canned sardines in a week, or 91 g of swordfish (FDA's survey; swordfish isn't one of our reviewed foods). Most of the fish people actually eat sits far below the line.
- Acrylamide: the same food, cooked differentlyThe same potato, baked, carries at least four times the acrylamide of the boiled one. Dark toast carries about 3.7 times the same brand's untoasted slice, in Health Canada's sample. Restaurant fries are the one food here where a single serving can add more than an average adult's whole day.
- Cadmium: the dose, not the presenceAs audited on 2026-10-17, counted eaten alone, from zero: It takes about 1.6 kg of spinach a week, eaten alone, to reach the cadmium limit. It takes 113 g of Pacific oysters, less than one serving.
Absorption
What the label lists, against what human studies found gets in.
- Calcium on the label vs calcium absorbedSpinach lists more calcium than bok choy, broccoli, green beans or carrot. Absorbed, it comes last: about 3 mg from a serving. Cooked kale lists 128 mg and delivers about 52.
- Raw egg vs cooked egg: how much of the protein you digestCooked, about nine-tenths of the egg protein was digested. Raw, about half to two-thirds. From a 100 g serving of egg (12.4 g of protein on the label), that is about 11–12 g digested cooked against 6–8 g raw.
- Spinach: what's on the label, and what the studies found gets inAs audited on 2026-10-17, counted eaten alone, from zero: Spinach lists a lot. In the studies, little of it gets in: its calcium and iron barely get through, and vitamin E and K do better with some fat on the plate.