Does Equip Foods Prime Protein Have Lead? What Testing Shows
Does Equip Foods Prime Protein Have Lead?
Yes, in the one flavor Consumer Reports tested. Equip Prime Protein, Chocolate, measured 0.71 micrograms of lead per scoop, which is 144% of Consumer Reports' level of concern, and CR placed it in its "okay to eat occasionally" tier.
That result covers the chocolate flavor, from lots Equip says are older. If you are comparing it against our protein powders tested for lead, here is what is known and what is not.
What the testing found
Consumer Reports tested 23 protein powders and ready-to-drink shakes for arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury. The report published October 14, 2025 and was updated January 8, 2026. CR bought two or three lots of each product from retailers between November 2024 and January 2025, blind-coded the samples, and sent them to an independent accredited laboratory. Every result is an average across those lots.
A 25.7 gram scoop of Equip Prime Protein, Chocolate, averaged 0.71 micrograms of lead, or 27.5 parts per billion. CR's level of concern is built on California's Prop 65 maximum allowable dose for lead, 0.5 micrograms a day. At 144% of it, CR advised no more than about four and three-quarter servings a week.
CR also states that its method means no Prop 65 judgments can be made from its findings. The numbers are meant to show which products carry comparatively more lead, not to say a product breaks California law. CR did not test Equip's unflavored powder, so there is no CR number for it.
What Equip says
Equip says Consumer Reports tested older lots of Prime Protein Chocolate from 2024 and no other flavors. The company says its current lots are well within Prop 65 limits and that its September 2025 tests came in comfortably below the thresholds.
Equip names Light Labs, an ISO-accredited third-party laboratory, as its testing partner. It says results are published on its product pages and available to anyone who emails the company. We have not independently verified Equip's lot-level numbers, and a brand's own testing is a different thing from a side-by-side comparison run by someone else.
What it means for a buyer
Chocolate flavoring contains cocoa, and cocoa is a known lead accumulator, so the chocolate result does not automatically carry over to the unflavored powder. It also does not show the unflavored powder is lower. Nobody independent has published that comparison that we could find.
If you drink protein daily and lead is your main concern, choose a brand that publishes lot-level results or carries an outside certification. If you want to stay with Equip, buy unflavored, ask for the certificate of analysis for your lot, and treat CR's weekly serving guidance as the frame for the chocolate version.
Protein powders with a clearer testing record
These come from our supplements guide, each with a different reason to pick it over Prime Protein.
- Legion Whey+ Protein, best overall. Grass-fed whey isolate, NSF Certified for Sport, and third-party tested for heavy metals and banned substances. We cover it in Is Legion Protein Powder Clean?
- Momentous Essential Grass-Fed Whey Protein Isolate, best for lot-level lab results. NSF Certified for Sport, with a certificate of analysis published for every batch through Light Labs.
- NAKED 100% Grass-Fed Whey Protein Powder, best single-ingredient whey. One ingredient on the label, and NSF Certified.
- Klean Athlete Klean Isolate, best two-ingredient label. Whey isolate and sunflower lecithin, with every batch screened under NSF Certified for Sport.
- NAKED Pea Protein Powder, best dairy-free plant option. NSF Contents Certified and a single ingredient. CR found plant-based powders carried more lead on average, so check the certificate of analysis for your lot.
- Equip Foods Prime Protein, best beef protein for anyone avoiding dairy. A single-ingredient grass-fed beef protein isolate. Choose unflavored and request the lot's test results first.
For another brand with a Consumer Reports result, see Does Orgain Protein Powder Have Lead? If you want whey only, see the best whey protein without heavy metals.
The takeaway
Consumer Reports found Equip Prime Protein, Chocolate, above its lead level of concern and told readers to keep it occasional. Equip disputes how current those lots are and publishes testing from an accredited lab. Both statements can be true at once, and only a certificate for the lot in your hands settles it.