Deccan Herald report: how we ensure safe farms at Healthy Buddha

You may have seen a recent Deccan Herald report about lead contamination and pesticide residues found in a portion of vegetable samples tested in and around Bengaluru.
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​https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/story/india/karnataka/bengaluru/lead-contamination-in-26-of-veg-samples-in-bengaluru-cpcb-3908032​

Articles like this can feel worrying.

Honestly, this is exactly why Healthy Buddha exists.

At Healthy Buddha, we’ve been doing independent lab testing on a regular basis for the last few years — and publishing the reports transparently for you to see.

You can view our lab test reports here: https://healthybuddha.in/lab-test-reports​

These reports include pesticide residue tests (often screening 175–250+ molecules depending on the test) and, where applicable, additional checks such as heavy metals and other parameters — all from NABL-accredited / FSSAI-recognised labs (as mentioned in the report formats).

A few important, honest points

• No company can test every single item, every single day — and we won’t pretend otherwise.
• What we do instead is consistent, ongoing testing across categories and farms, and we share results openly.
• If we ever see anything concerning in a report, we act on it immediately — including stopping sourcing from that lot/farm.

Why this matters

The Deccan Herald article also highlights something many people don’t realise:

Even produce sold as “organic” can sometimes show contamination — because issues like heavy metals can come from soil, water, nearby industry, and broader environmental exposure.

So the real differentiator is not just labels.

It’s traceability, process, and transparency.

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Also in general there are lot of heavy metal contamination (including lead) - primarily because of use of contaminated water.

How we do irrigation at our farms

Infact last year when similar study came up, I got all our greens tested and also went to our farms, and walk through how irrigation is done.

You can see the video below from last year. Literally I drink water from the ground.

This is the farm where we primarily grow most of our greens.

And greens especially are very susceptible to heavy metal contamination and it is important that it is grown in a clean environment.

At our farms we don't use any sewage water.

We don't use any industrial waste.

We don't use any chemical fertilizer or chemical pesticides.

We use clean water from borewell and irrigate it using sprinklers.

You can see how it is done in the video.

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Tags: Food Safety Lab Testing Pesticide Residues Heavy Metals Lead Contamination Bengaluru Vegetables Greens Safety Clean Irrigation Borewell Water Chemical-Free Farming