Disturbing levels of lead and cadmium found in dark chocolate

[Introversion]

https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/

For many of us, chocolate is more than just a tasty treat. It’s a mood lifter, an energy booster, a reward after a tough day, a favorite holiday gift.

People also choose dark chocolate in particular for its potential health benefits, thanks to studies that suggest its rich supply of antioxidants may improve heart health and other conditions, and for its relatively low levels of sugar. In fact, more than half of people in a recent survey from the National Confectioners Association described dark chocolate as a “better for you” candy.

But there’s a dark side to this “healthier” chocolate. Research has found that some dark chocolate bars contain cadmium and lead—two heavy metals linked to a host of health problems in children and adults.

The chocolate industry has been grappling with ways to lower those levels. To see how much of a risk these favorite treats pose, Consumer Reports scientists recently measured the amount of heavy metals in 28 dark chocolate bars. They detected cadmium and lead in all of them.

 

[Unimportant]

https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG. I bake SO MUCH stuff for other people with dark chocolate. I definitely need to check my brand of choice -- not on that list, so will need to track it down, but OMG!!!!

(Having hyperventilating flashbacks to what happened to the people in Flint, Michigan when their drinking water was contaminated with lead....)

 

[Brigid Barry]

Just so everyone is aware, Consumer Reports doesn't test everything, so just because it's not on the list doesn't mean it's okay, it just means CR didn't test it.

 

[Gramps]

Just so everyone is aware, Consumer Reports doesn't test everything, so just because it's not on the list doesn't mean it's okay, it just means CR didn't test it.

Careful your positive attitude is showing

 

[Brigid Barry]

Careful your positive attitude is showing

I know it's at least as devastating as finding out that chocolate is trying to kill is all, but I didn't want anyone thinking that the list was fully inclusive.

ETA: I also resent the slander upon my honor that I not only have positivity, but that I would show it. I never!

 

[Unimportant]

My tomatoes have late blight, but I reckon that's still less disturbing than OMG CHOCOLATE IS CONTAMINATED!!!!!

 

[Gramps]

I know it's at least as devastating as finding out that chocolate is trying to kill is all, but I didn't want anyone thinking that the list was fully inclusive.

ETA: I also resent the slander upon my honor that I not only have positivity, but that I would show it. I never!

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Of course, you’re correct not everything is tested and sometimes we rely on recalls being all inclusive. I worked over 3 decades in Quality Assurance and know there is always a potential risk because sometimes ingredient recalls aren’t caught until after finished product is on the shelf. Your honor shall forever prevail.

 

[Unimportant]

Just so everyone is aware, Consumer Reports doesn't test everything, so just because it's not on the list doesn't mean it's okay, it just means CR didn't test it.

and they're not global, so we all need to do our due diligence, but it's good to have this heads-up!

I wonder if white chocolate is okay?

 

[Helix]

and they're not global, so we all need to do our due diligence, but it's good to have this heads-up!

I wonder if white chocolate is okay?

There's also dark chocolate grown in the Daintree region of Australia, which I'd expect to be largely free of heavy metals.

 

[mccardey]

There's also dark chocolate grown in the Daintree region of Australia

Can you send me one of their seedlings please? A cadbury one with nuts would be fine.

 

[Unimportant]

There's also dark chocolate grown in the Daintree region of Australia, which I'd expect to be largely free of heavy metals.

Yes but would it not have all kinds of toxins and poisons and snake venoms etc? And bits of those weird blonde guys who like to wrestle crocodiles?

 

[Meg]

I'm really bummed because Equal Exchange is on the list. I buy their cocoa powder in bulk to feed my chocolate habit. (And there's no reason to think their cocoa powder is any different from the bar chocolate that was tested.)

I'm also horrified at the amount of the stuff I've already consumed. It may be time to kick the habit.

 

[Unimportant]

I'm also horrified at the amount of the stuff I've already consumed. It may be time to kick the habit.

well dear sweet jeebus if this extends to coffee I might as well just die now

 

[Janine R]

I had to gobble the last of the Christmas chocolate before the information hits my brain.

 

[Helix]

Can you send me one of their seedlings please? A cadbury one with nuts would be fine.

I was wondering whether I could grow them here, but I think the elevation might be enough to be an issue for the plants. Coffee, tea, no probs, and the orchid farm in Atherton grows vanilla in a shadehouse, but I don't think cocoa is a goer.

 

[Brigid Barry]

White chocolate isn't actually chocolate and contains no doesn't contain the cocao solids so it won't be affected.

Edited because it's late and my brain has the dumbz.

 

[Chris P]

Part 1:

I'm throwing a yellow foul card on that article as MISLEADING! Truthful to the letter, but presented in a way that sheds heat and not light. They admit as much: "Our results indicate which products had comparatively higher levels and are not assessments of whether a product exceeds a legal standard." Which means the levels do not reach those sufficient to cause health effects (even though cadmium and lead don't do anyone any good and would be better if there was none at all), since hopefully no legal standard would surpass safety thresholds.

TL;DR: California's cadmium limits are lower than the internationally accepted standards in chocolate and cacao. California's cadmium is 4.1 micrograms/ounce, which comes to 0.14 mg/kg (which I am in the habit of expressing as "ppm"--they're the same thing). The Codex limit for cadmium is 0.3 ppm, so California's limit is about half of the internationally accepted standard. The article just showing that it has surpassed the California limits only means just that: they surpassed the California limits.

 

[Chris P]

Part 2, since some character limit (oh, the URL in the links are about 53 miles long) won't let me do it in one post.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission (FAO website), a joint project of the FAO and WHO, sets international standards and maximum limits (MLs) for contaminants in foods. Specifically, the Codex Commission for Contaminants in Food (CCCF) does this, while other committees handle things like pesticide residues, etc. Most countries in the world adopt Codex standards, or even tighter ones such as California has. In 2021, Codex adopted a limit of 0.3 ppm cadmium in chocolate <30% cacao, 0.8 ppm ppm for >30 but <50%, 0.9 for >70%, and 2.0 to 3.0 ppm for 100% cacao powder (FAO document pdf). The cacao plant naturally accumulates cadmium and other metals from the soil, and hence the more cacao solids are incorporated, the higher the cadmium content is expected to be. I don't have inside knowledge on this particular case, but it's likely that because cacao powder is diluted when making final food products, the final cadmium levels the consumer is exposed to will be less. In any case, the response to the comment period limits when they were proposed in 2020 (an FAO pdf) include comments from several countries around the world on their perspective on the suitability of the ML. It's an interesting read (if that's your kink).

 

[Helix]

White chocolate isn't actually chocolate and contains no cocao so it won't be affected.

Doesn't it contain cocoa butter?

 

[Brigid Barry]

Doesn't it contain cocoa butter?

The good/real white chocolate does and I edited my original post, thank you for making me not be lazy and look it up.

The cocoa butter isn't the issue, it's the solids, which are not in white chocolate (and some white chocolate doesn't contain cocoa butter at all). From the CR article:

Unfortunately, cocoa solids are also where the heavy metals, especially cadmium, lurk.

 

[Helix]

The good/real white chocolate does and I edited my original post, thank you for making me not be lazy and look it up.

The cocoa butter isn't the issue, it's the solids, which are not in white chocolate (and some white chocolate doesn't contain cocoa butter at all). From the CR article:

I was lazy and skimmed over the bit about the problem being with the solids. White chocolate, it is!

 

[Fi Webster]

I first heard about this issue about ten years ago, when a lot of chocolate sourced from African cacao plants was coming onto the market and being sold to liberals like me as being more in line with "fair trade" values. The articles I read traced the problem to air pollution in Africa, from a preponderance of vehicles burning leaded gasoline. I'm not sure if that's still a thing, but I do notice some of the African brands like Green & Black's are not rated very well by CR.

I switched back then to older brands like Ghiardelli for which the cocoa was less likely to come from Africa. I'm pleased to see that in the CR testing, my Number One favorite dark chocolate, Ghiardelli's 86% Intense Dark, is "safer"—although that's not a wholly reassuring adjective.

I looked just now to see if I could find an article from ten years ago. I found this one from 2016:

https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2016/09/16/How-to-avoid-cadmium-and-lead-in-chocolate-Safety-recall-prevention

 

[Fi Webster]

Further opinion on American chocolate from Arwa Mahdawi.

It tastes like sawdust that’s been drowned in sugar and soaked with baby vomit.

It tastes like that, by the way, because that’s roughly what it is. American chocolate (I’m talking about the non-fancy stuff) has a lot more sugar and a lot less cocoa than its European counterparts. Some producers also allegedly put their milk through a process called controlled lipolysis which produces butyric acid. What’s that when it’s at home? It’s something that’s found in vomit.

I'm sticking with Ghiardelli's Intense Dark. It's remarkable free of any bitter edge for being 86% cacao. It also has notes of cherry and plum—perceptible even to my non-discerning palette.

 

[Alessandra Kelley]

Further opinion on American chocolate from Arwa Mahdawi.



I'm sticking with Ghiardelli's Intense Dark. It's remarkable free of any bitter edge for being 86% cacao. It also has notes of cherry and plum—perceptible even to my non-discerning palette.

The story goes that Hershey discovered that instead of using expensive fresh milk it found it could make cheaper milk chocolate with cheaper, older, spoiled sour milk and, well, consumers didn’t complain, so …

(Even as a small child I noticed that Hershey’s chocolate burned my throat. For a long time I thought I just didn’t like milk choocolate. My first taste of European-made milk chocolate was a shock and a delight.)

 

[Roxxsmom]

I heard about this and it made me sad and anxious. Especially at the end of the holidays, a time of year when I tend to consume more chocolate of all types. It also suddenly makes me glad I actually prefer Lindt's milk chocolate (in spite of the derision this admission gets from "true" Chocolate lovers). But if the bad stuff is in the stock cocoa powder, it must be present in all chocolate, if in smaller amounts. No amount of lead is safe. Plus, I do love making hot cocoa with hershey's cocoa powder (or better brands when I can get them), and I assume the contaminants would be in that too.

Though the CR article doesn't mention Lindt chocolate, I believe they mentioned it in the public radio story I heard. So does this mean that dark chocolate, at least, will be disappearing from store shelves in CA?

So what is the source of these contaminants in cocoa? The soil in which the trees are grown, something related to the processing, or is it an intentional way to give it that bitter flavor? The air pollution hypothesis makes sense, but has it been verified. The article I read the other day didn't say anything about the reason the heavy metals are in dark chocolate. And would cadmium be from air pollution too?

Hershey's milk chocolate is definitely not very "chocolatey," and it does have an odd flavor. Baby vomit actually makes sense as a description, though, if they use sour milk. Plus, it is very waxy. Good milk chocolate has a sweet, creamy, slightly nutty/malty flavor and a "smooth as silk" texture as it melts in your mouth.

I think White chocolate has cocoa butter in it but none of the actual theobromine-containing cocoa extract. It's not bad, but I find it cloying if it's not mixed with something else (like dark chocolate).