My experience at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is with the Chemical Analysis section which is divided in several subsections dealing with the chemical analyses of various products. In my presentation I will outline the steps taken to test the incoming domestic and imported food at the Toxic Metals Lab. This lab tests for the levels of lead, mercury and cadmium along with other heavy metals. The procedure involves composting of the food, its treatment with microwave accelerated digestion and ultimate testing for metallic levels by using the specific method called for through the set of regulated standard procedures. Among those procedures used are Atomic Absorption (AA), Inductive Coupled Plasma/ Mass Spectroscopy (ICP/MS) and Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (CVAAS).