Are we consuming heavy metals when we eat dark chocolate?
A recent test by Consumer Reports reveals that many popular brands of dark chocolate contain high levels of two heavy metals—cadmium and lead.
How do these toxins get into dark chocolate?
Cadmium accumulates inside cocoa plants from the soil they grow in. After harvest, lead from vehicle exhaust settles on cocoa beans while they dry in the sun. Ingesting cadmium can cause cancer, while exposure to lead causes damage to the brain and nervous system.
Making changes to the way cocoa is harvested is easier than making changes to the soil where it grows. Cocoa grows best in a limited geographic zone across Central America, Africa, and Indonesia. It’s more sustainable for producers to change their ways than for us to change nature.
In August 2022, an organization called As You Sow published a lengthy report to raise awareness on the issue, and they provided suggestions for cocoa producers to improve. They also sued more than 20 companies, including Trader Joe’s, Hershey’s, Mondelēz, Lindt, Whole Foods, Kroger, Godiva, See’s Candies, Mars, Theo Chocolate, Equal Exchange, Ghirardelli, and Chocolove.
Based in California, As You Sow leveraged Proposition 65, a state law that requires companies to add product warning labels for toxins that cause cancer and birth defects. Class action lawsuits have been filed and chocolate bars in stores still do not have warning labels.
The good news is we don’t have to give up dark chocolate completely; we can simply reduce how much we eat and how often we eat it. Plus, we can learn which bars have low amounts of heavy metals via the Consumer Reports website.
