Eeek… Heavy metals in dark chocolate

[Katy]

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

 

[happi duck]

Thanks for posting.  That's shocking!

[Amethyst]

Wow. I love dark chocolate. Fortunately I don’t eat it often. Bumping this so more people see it. Thanks for posting 

[lauraw4321]

Nooooooo!

[whitestavern]

We love Alter Eco and eat two squares almost every evening. So disappointed. And angry. 

[ealp2009]

https://tamararubin.com/2022/12/preliminary-thoughts-on-the-consumer-reports-lead-in-chocolate-article-published-today/

Here’s a link to more information on lead in chocolate. It’s pretty terrible.  

[HazelAnne]

So sad to read this- I love…well, loved, dark chocolate. Thanks for sharing, this is important to know!

[GoVanGogh]

Ack. That is horrible. I don’t eat much chocolate these days but - as someone with young onset Parkinson’s - I need/want to reduce as many risks as possible. I had heavy metal testing done several years ago, at the suggestion of one of my doctors. My tests came back extremely high in tin, which I have not been able to find much information on. I grew up in the Midwest, drinking well water and standing outside to watch crop dusters on the neighbor’s fields. 

[cintinative]

This is upsetting. 

I don't really know what to think. We eat a lot of dark chocolate here.

[marbel]

5 minutes ago, cintinative said:

This is upsetting. 

I don't really know what to think. We eat a lot of dark chocolate here.

Agreed! Dark chocolate was supposed to be the healthier choice! 

[cintinative]

I eat Moser Roth (Aldi) which wasn't tested, but it seems like it would be unlikely that it wouldn't have lead and cadmium based on these results.

ETA: found this: 

Edited December 16, 2022 by cintinative

[marbel]

3 minutes ago, cintinative said:

I eat Moser Roth (Aldi) which wasn't tested, but it seems like it would be unlikely that it wouldn't have lead and cadmium based on these results.

ETA: found this: 

Thanks for posting this. Here is the link to search other brands:   https://www.asyousow.org/environmental-health/toxic-enforcement/toxic-chocolate

[kokotg]

whoa. I guess it's time to lay off the Lily's! Now I'm wondering about my cocoa powder, too....I've been making a protein shake with spinach and cocoa powder every day lately...apparently all my efforts to be healthy are doomed to backfire. 

[kbutton]

I eat a lot of dark chocolate because my diet is limited in other ways. This is a quality of life issue for me, though I know that sounds dramatic. A lot of foods and spices are off limits for me or are foods that I can consume only occasionally (citrus, nightshades!). Other than dark chocolate, I eat a lot of very bland food. Due to sugar content, I can’t really switch to milk chocolate.

[mommyoffive]

Oh wow, how scary.  I hate dark chocolate, but I have given it to my kids a bit over the years thinking it was the healthier thing.

[El...]

Whoa. 

[ScoutTN]

Ugh. 

[Toocrazy!!]

I eat a lot of dark chocolate and thought I was picking good brands. I don’t think I can give it up. It seems like something new every day. I hope I can find a brand to still eat. I’m sad😢

[Arcadia]

45 minutes ago, kbutton said:

I eat a lot of dark chocolate because my diet is limited in other ways. This is a quality of life issue for me, though I know that sounds dramatic. A lot of foods and spices are off limits for me or are foods that I can consume only occasionally (citrus, nightshades!). Other than dark chocolate, I eat a lot of very bland food. Due to sugar content, I can’t really switch to milk chocolate.

 

40 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Oh wow, how scary.  I hate dark chocolate, but I have given it to my kids a bit over the years thinking it was the healthier thing.

We have a Ghirardelli outlet nearby and grocery outlet sells Lindt relatively cheaper. So I filtered the list by brand and there are some relatively safe choices. My kids liked the Lindt truffles since young. 

Lindt & Sprungli	Lindt 60 Extra Dark LINDOR Truffles	07/2018	0.0	0.1
	Lindt & Sprungli	Lindt Gold Bunny Milk Chocolate	02/2016	0.0	---
	Lindt & Sprungli	Lindt Excellence 70 Cocoa Smooth Dark Chocolate Bar	02/2016	0.0	---
	Lindt & Sprungli	Lindt Excellence 85 Cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate Bar	02/2016	0.0	0.1
	Lindt & Sprungli	Lindt Excellence 85 Cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate Bar	10/2014	0.0	0.1
	Lindt & Sprungli	Lindt Excellence 85 Cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate Bar	10/2014	0.1	0.1
	Lindt & Sprungli	Lindt Excellence Dark A Touch of Sea Salt	07/2014	0.0	0.1
	Lindt & Sprungli	Lindt Excellence 70 Cocoa Smooth Dark Chocolate Bar	07/2014	0.0	0.2
	Lindt & Sprungli	Lindt Excellence 85 Cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate Bar

 

58 minutes ago, marbel said:

Thanks for posting this. Here is the link to search other brands:   https://www.asyousow.org/environmental-health/toxic-enforcement/toxic-chocolate

Read the report years ago when the testing started but results were not published then 

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-may-09-fi-sweets8-story.html (May 9, 2002 12 AM PT)

“The American Environmental Safety Institute said it is suing chocolate makers, including Hershey Foods Corp. and Mars Inc., for not disclosing that their products contain enough lead and cadmium to pose a serious health risk--a disclosure required by California law.

The chocolate companies dismissed the lawsuit as frivolous and alarmist, saying the amount of lead and cadmium in candy bars and instant hot chocolate is no more than in other common foods because the metals are naturally occurring.

… The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, charges Nestle USA Inc., Kraft Foods North America Inc., Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Inc. and See’s Candies Inc. with violating California’s Proposition 65, a consumer health law that requires warnings to be given to individuals before they are exposed to hazardous chemicals.

The California’s attorney general’s office found that lead in chocolate products is not caused by human activity. The law exempts food makers whose products contain toxic chemicals that are not added during production”

 

[Arcadia]

5 minutes ago, Toocrazy!! said:

I eat a lot of dark chocolate and thought I was picking good brands. I don’t think I can give it up. It seems like something new every day. I hope I can find a brand to still eat. I’m sad😢

@kbutton Ferrero is okay too

	Ferrero	Ferrero Collection Fine assorted Confections	02/2022	0.3	0.7
	Ferrero	Ferrero Collection Fine assorted Confections TEST Ferrero Rondnoir	10/2014	0.0

ETA:

DS18 loves Toblerone. Luckily its okay

	Mondelez International	Toblerone of Switzerland Milk Chocolate with Honey and Almond Nougat	02/2022	0.1	0.4
	Mondelez International	Toblerone of Switzerland Milk Chocolate with Honey and Almond Nougat	02/2022	0.1

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by Arcadia

[CTVKath]

This is devastating!!!!!!!! Thank you for the heads up.

[Selkie]

Navitas Organics is the brand I like for cacao powder and nibs. Here's what they say about heavy metals in their products:

https://navitasorganics.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408161123604-Are-there-heavy-metals-in-your-cacao-

The level of heavy metals found in cacao beans varies based on the growing region, soil quality, environmental conditions and more. In general, South and Central American cacao tends to carry a higher heavy metal level, due to the mineral-rich, volcanic ash soils found there. Africa, another primary growing region for cacao, has soils that are typically lower in heavy metals.

After long sourcing our cacao beans from cacao’s country of origin—Peru—we now source them from Sierra Leone. (You can read more about why we made that decision here. Spoiler alert: it’s not just about the heavy metals!) All of our finished cacao products are tested for heavy metals using third party, independent labs. Usually—but not always—trace amounts of lead and cadmium are present in the results. We monitor these levels carefully to ensure that they are within a normal to low range for cacao. On average, we see 0.08mcg/g of lead and 0.62mcg/g of cadmium in our Cacao Powder, and 0.015mcg/g of lead and 0.36mcg/g of cadmium in our Cacao Nibs.

[Kanin]

OH no! Theo bars are high in both lead and cadmium. DH used to eat one every other day or so. ARGH! He's been taking a break lately, but I wonder if we should be concerned about the amount he was eating in the past year. 

[Arcadia]

27 minutes ago, Kanin said:

OH no! Theo bars are high in both lead and cadmium. DH used to eat one every other day or so. ARGH! He's been taking a break lately, but I wonder if we should be concerned about the amount he was eating in the past year. 

I remembered that your insurance coverage isn’t great. However, you could ask your general practitioner if a lead blood test would be covered. Ours were free as the area we lived in was known for lead exposure in soil and old pipes.

[Eos]

This has been a hot topic around here.  Not only do we consume lots of yummy chocolate, we had switched to the Tony's Chocolonely brand thinking hey, no child slavery is pretty great.  But the lead is from dust covering the beans?  Children or adults, the folks processing this stuff are covered in it too.  OK locavores, you win.

[happi duck]

@Eos Good point!

[Indigo Blue]

Chocolate gives me horrendous headaches. Maybe this will be an incentive to stop consuming it as not consuming chocolate has proven to be excruciatingly difficult. 

Dh was given an unopened box of TJ chocolate-covered cherries. He thought he’d bring that home for the boys. When I saw it, my eyes bulged. I thought…just one….

24 hours, Two Motrin, and one Aleve later, the headache was finally gone. 

This is awful news, though, just like the benzene in sunscreen last summer. I always wonder what will be next.

Edited December 19, 2022 by Indigo Blue

[TravelingChris]

Okay, it seems like the Lindt Excellence 70 is fine.

[heartlikealion]

Good grief! I have a whole bag of Ghirardelli dark melting wafers here. 

[Arcadia]

Probably first lawsuit

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64123157.amp
“Mr Lazazzaro's lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in a federal court in New York, alleges that he would not have bought or wanted to pay less for the Hershey's Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate, Lily's Extra Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa and Lily's Extreme Dark Chocolate bars.

…

Mr Lazazzaro is seeking at least $5m (£4.2m) in damages from Hershey in the proposed class action lawsuit.”

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

”Consumer Reports found dangerous heavy metals in chocolate from Hershey's, Theo, Trader Joe's and other popular brands. Here are the ones that had the most, and some that are safer.

…

But lead seems to get into cacao after beans are harvested. The researchers found that the metal was typically on the outer shell of the cocoa bean, not in the bean itself. Moreover, lead levels were low soon after beans were picked and removed from pods but increased as beans dried in the sun for days. During that time, lead-filled dust and dirt accumulated on the beans. “We collected beans on the ground that were heavily loaded with lead on the outer shell,” DiBartolomeis says. 

Because of the different ways that cadmium and lead get into chocolate, addressing the contamination requires different solutions.

For lead, that will mean changes in harvesting and manufacturing practices, says Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow. Such practices could include minimizing soil contact with beans as they lie in the sun, and drying beans on tables or clean tarps away from roads or with protective covers, so lead-contaminated dust won’t land on them. Another option is finding ways to remove metal contaminants when beans are cleaned at factories, Fugere says.

Solving for cadmium is trickier, though it is possible, DiBartolomeis says. Carefully breeding or genetically engineering plants to take up less of the heavy metal could help, though that could take several years. Other potential options include replacing older cacao trees with younger ones, because cadmium levels tend to increase as the plants get older, and removing or treating soil known to be contaminated with cadmium.”

[BFab]

For the two people who posted results of Moser Roth, I got totally different results for the same test date..