Microplastics

We tested 13 supplements for microplastics.Here’s what we found.

We tested three Ora supplements alongside ten products from other brands. All three Ora products came back with no microplastics detected. Five of the ten other products had measurable levels.

See the results

3 products tested

No microplastics detected*

So Lean & So Clean Muscle Memory Trust Your Gut

All 3 Ora products

Other brands

10 products tested

Microplastics detected in 5 of 10

Detected Not detected

*Not detected at the lab’s detection limit of 5 particles per gram.

01 · Packaging

First, we took on the packaging.

Plastic has long been the default for supplement packaging. It’s lightweight, inexpensive and has a good moisture barrier. But the environmental cost of all that plastic has bothered us.

And as research into microplastics has grown, so has our unease about how much we still don’t know, including what they could mean for human health.

So after years of R&D and testing, we moved our powder products from plastic tubs to aluminum cans and our capsule and tablet products to glass bottles. We also swapped plastic seals for foil ones, switched our desiccants to clay and developed a biodegradable, non-GMO corn bioplastic scoop.

  • Powders

    Plastic tubs → aluminum cans

    Our powder products, including our best-selling plant protein, moved from plastic tubs to aluminum cans in November 2025.

  • Capsules + tablets

    Plastic bottles → glass

    Our capsule and tablet products come in glass bottles, with aluminum closures replacing the plastic lids we used before.

  • In every can

    A scoop made from plants

    Our scoop is made from a biodegradable, non-GMO corn bioplastic.

02 · The question

It started with a question we couldn’t answer.

We were on the phone with Dr. William Li, Harvard-trained physician scientist and author of Eat to Beat Disease, talking about working together when he asked us:

“Have you ever tested your finished products for microplastics?”

We hadn’t. So we did.

We already test every production lot for heavy metals, microbes, label accuracy and more. But microplastics weren’t on that list.

So we sent three of our bestsellers to an independent lab, along with ten other products we bought ourselves, to see what the same test would find across all thirteen.

Dr. William Li
Dr. William Li, physician scientist and author of Eat to Beat Disease

03 · Why it matters

So why should we care? Microplastics are turning up in places they shouldn’t.

They’ve been detected in food, water and, increasingly, human tissue. Scientists are still working out what that means for our health.

What are microplastics?

Tiny pieces of plastic, smaller than five millimeters. They shed from packaging, bottles, clothing and tires, and end up in the air, water and food around us.

  • Blood

    17 of 22

    healthy adult blood donors had plastic particles in their blood.

    Leslie et al., Environment International, 2022

  • Lungs

    11 of 13

    lung tissue samples taken during surgery contained microplastics.

    Jenner et al., Science of the Total Environment, 2022

  • Arteries

    58%

    of carotid artery plaques removed in surgery contained polyethylene.

    Marfella et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 2024

  • Brain

    ~50%

    more plastic in brain samples from 2024 than from 2016.

    Nihart et al., Nature Medicine, 2025

  • Placenta

    62 of 62

    placentas tested contained microplastics.

    Garcia et al., Toxicological Sciences, 2024

  • Testes

    23 of 23

    human testes tested contained microplastics.

    Hu et al., Toxicological Sciences, 2024

These studies report where microplastics have been found in the body. They do not establish that microplastics cause harm, and we are not claiming they do.

04 · What we tested

The 13 supplements we tested for microplastics.

3 Ora products

  • So Lean & So Clean

    So Lean & So Clean
    Protein

  • Muscle Memory

    Muscle Memory
    Creatine

  • Trust Your Gut

    Trust Your Gut
    Probiotic

10 products from other supplement brands

Protein

  • Protein A

  • Protein B

Creatine

  • Creatine C

  • Creatine D

Probiotic

  • Probiotic E

  • Probiotic F

Greens and all-in-one

  • Greens G

  • Greens H

  • Greens I

  • Multi J

And we didn’t go looking for obscure products to make the comparison easier. These were established supplement brands and products you’d recognize, bought just like any other customer would buy them.

We sent all 13 products to the same independent, accredited lab. They were submitted together and tested using the same method in the same testing window.

Microplastics are in lab air and lab water as much as anywhere else, so the lab ran procedural blanks alongside the samples to measure its own background, and handled the samples in glass and steel rather than plastic.

Same lab. Same method. Same testing window.

5 Detection limitmicroplastic particles per gram

Worth knowing

We paid for the testing and chose the products. One lot of each product was tested, with no replicates, so these results tell you about the samples tested, not every product a brand has ever made.

05 · Results

5 of the 10 other supplements had detectable microplastics.

All three Ora products came back not detected.*

The five other products with measurable microplastics ranged from 7 to 12 particles per gram. All three Ora products were below the lab’s detection limit of 5 particles per gram.

This was a small test, not a survey of the entire supplement industry. But when five out of ten other products come back with measurable microplastics, we think it’s worth paying attention.

Tap a category to compare the results. Ora products are shown in blue.

A plain white plastic supplement tub with no label

Five of the ten other products had measurable microplastics, from 7 to 12 particles per gram. All three Ora products: not detected.

Below the 5 per gram detection limit Measured microplastics

What does “not detected” actually mean?

It doesn’t mean zero.

The lab’s detection limit was 5 particles per gram. So “not detected” means the sample came back below what this method can reliably detect.

The method also has a size floor. µFTIR identifies particles down to about 10 microns, so anything smaller is below what it can see at all.

That’s why you’ll see us say “not detected,” not “microplastic-free.”

Your supplements

Don’t just trust the label. Ask for the receipts.

Whatever supplements you take, ask the company that made them for the Certificate of Analysis for your batch.

We make ours available by batch number because we think you should be able to see the testing behind what’s in your hand.

The three we tested

These are the certificates for the lots we sent to the lab in May 2026, not for the tub in your hand — for that one, look up its batch.

06 · Questions

Fair questions

Something else? Email info@ora.organic and a real person will get back to you.

So are Ora products free of microplastics?

No, and we won’t say that. Not detected at 5 particles per gram means below what the method can see, not zero.

The three Ora products we tested all came back “not detected” at that limit.

Where did the microplastics in the other products come from?

We don’t know.

This test tells us what was detected in the finished product, not where it came from. Packaging, ingredients, manufacturing and the environment are all possible sources, but these results don’t tell us which.

Why won’t you name the other brands?

Because this wasn’t designed to be a takedown.

We wanted to understand what the same test would find across products in the categories we sell. So we’re sharing the results, but keeping the other brands anonymous.

You paid for this. Why should I trust it?

Don’t take our word for it. Look at the results.

Ora commissioned and paid for the testing and chose the products tested. All 13 products were submitted together to an accredited third-party laboratory under one requisition. We’re publishing the method, detection limit and results so people can judge them for themselves.

And five of the ten other products came back not detected too. If we had gone looking for products we expected to fail, we would not be publishing a test where half the comparison set came back the same as ours.

Does moving to aluminum and glass make a difference?

It’s one less place we want to rely on conventional plastic.

That’s why we moved our powders to aluminum cans and our capsule and tablet products to glass bottles. But this test wasn’t designed to determine where microplastics came from, so we’re not claiming our packaging is the reason for these results.

Will you test again?

Yes. This isn’t a one-and-done for us.

We already third-party test every production lot across a broad quality and safety panel. Microplastics testing is part of that standard now: going forward, every Ora product is tested for microplastics every year.

Testing by Qalitex, Inc., Irvine, California, an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited laboratory. Requisition 113R1449, samples received 21 May 2026, certificates issued 8 and 9 June 2026. Total microplastics by µFTIR (Qalitex Method 457), detection limit 5 particles per gram, with a practical particle size floor of about 10 microns. Suspect particles are counted under microscopy and identified one by one against polymer reference libraries covering polyethylene, polypropylene, PET, polystyrene and other common thermoplastics, with polyethylene and polypropylene speciated on the certificate; particles with no polymer match, and natural fibres such as cellulose, are not counted. Quality control includes procedural blanks for background plastic contamination and positive reference polymer checks. One lot of each product, no replicates. Ora commissioned and paid for the testing, selected the comparison products and bought them at retail. The comparison products’ certificates are not published here because they name the brands, and those are kept anonymous. Results describe the units tested.