23 Of 28 Dark Chocolate Bars Tested Have High Lead, Cadmium Levels

There may be a dark side to the dark chocolate that you are eating. Testing of 28 different dark chocolate bars from popular brands by Consumer Reports has found concerning levels of two heavy metals, cadmium, and lead, in 23 of them, as described by Kevin Loria for the publication. Yeah, heavy metal may be OK in your music but not so much in your dark chocolate.

Consumer Reports used California’s maximum allowable dose level (MADL) of 4.1 microgram as the threshold for cadmium levels and found that the following bars exceeded this threshold:

• Beyond Good Organic Pure Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa: with cadmium levels reaching 112% of California’s MADL
• Beyond Good Organic Pure Dark Chocolate 80% Cocoa: 138%
• Equal Exchange Organic Extra Dark Chocolate 80% Cacao: 120%
• Lindt Excellence Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa: 116%
• Scharffen Berger Extra Dark Chocolate 82% Cacao: 136%
• Alter Eco Organic Dark Chocolate Classic Blackout 85% Cacao: 204%
• Pascha Organic Very Dark Dark Chocolate 85% Cacao: 253%
• Dove Promises Deeper Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao: 112%

As you can see, a number of these bars had the word “organic” in their names, which, apparently in the case of cadmium, can be a bit like having the words “handsome” or “beautiful” in your dating profile. Looks like the “organic” label is no guarantee that cadmium levels won’t be above California’s MADL.

Consumer Reports testing also found too high levels of lead based on California’s MADL of 0.5 micrograms in the following bars:

• Tony’s Chocolonely Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa: with lead levels reaching 134% of the California’s MADL
• Lily’s Extra Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa: 144%
• Godiva Signature Dark Chocolate 72% Cacao: 146%
• Chocolove Strong Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa: 152%
• Lindt Excellence Dark Chocolate 85% Cocoa: 166%
• Endangered Species Bold + Silky Dark Chocolate 72% Cocoa: 181%
• Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate 72% Cacao: 192%
• Hu Organic Simple Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao: 210%
• Chocolove Extreme Dark Chocolate 88% Cocoa: 240%
• Hershey’s Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate: 265%

As you can see one of these bars had the “organic” label. Then there were the following with too high levels of both lead and cadmium:

• Theo Organic Pure Dark 70% Cocoa: 120% of the MADL for lead, 142% for cadmium
• Trader Joe’s The Dark Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate 85% Cacao: 127% and 229%
• Theo Organic Extra Dark Pure Dark Chocolate 85% Cocoa: 140% and 189%
• Lily’s Extremely Dark Chocolate 85% Cocoa: 143% and 101%
• Green & Black’s Organic Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao: 143% and 181%

Again, two of the bars listed above bore the organic name but still had levels of both heavy metals that exceeded the California MADLs.

Now some may argue that California’s MADL is too high a bar for these bars to achieve. But since there are no real federal limits, Consumer Reports opted to use the California thresholds. After all, consuming lead and cadmium ain’t like watching cat videos. There’s gotta be some kind of limit.

Levels that exceed the California MADLs could be quite a choco-lot considering the fact that exposure to even small amounts of lead or cadmium over long periods of time could result in some bad health doo-doo. If you are a young child, such exposure could impede brain development and other types of development. If you are pregnant, whatever you eat can be passed along to your fetus or fetuses if you are expecting twins or more and in turn affect their development. But just because you are an adult and think your brain is all developed to the point that you are a stable genius or something like that doesn’t mean that you can start eating lead with impunity. Lead and cadmium can still lead to high blood pressure, suppression of your immune system, and damage to your kidneys, nervous system, or reproductive organs. All of these are not good even tough dark chocolate can be so delicious.

That’s why no amount of lead or cadmium is really considered safe. When someone asks you whether you’d like some more lead put in your chocolate, just say no and leave that chocolatier’s premises immediately. More lead or cadmium in your diet is not good, bar none.

It’s already impossible to completely eliminate lead and cadmium from entering your body. Other food items such as carrots and spinach also have at least small amounts of such heavy metals. The doses and effects of such heavy metals can be cumulative. So any amount adds up.

So how did these levels of heavy metals even get into these dark chocolate bars? Well, cacao plants can suck up cadmium from the soil while the plants growing, whereas lead contamination seems to occur later, after the beans are harvested, via exposure to lead-loaded dust and dirt. Thus, improving harvesting and manufacturing practices so that keep beans more clean could help keep the lead out, so to speak. Meanwhile, addressing the cadmium issue is a growing problem, so to speak. The question is whether cacao plants farmers can find ways to use soil that has less cadmium or grow cacao plants differently so that they don’t take up as much of the heavy metal. Another thought is to genetically engineer the plants so that they don’t suck as much, as much cadmium, that is.

Things weren’t all dark and gloomy with the Consumer Reports testing. Not all the bars tested “lead” to bad news. You may have noticed that 23 of the 28 bars tested had too high levels of the heavy metals, leaving five that had cadmium and lead levels that were below the California MADLs:

• Mast Organic Dark Chocolate 80% Cocoa: had lead levels that were 14% of the California MADL and cadmium levels that were 40% of the California MADL
• Taza Chocolate Organic Deliciously Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao: 33% for lead and 74% for cadmium
• Ghirardelli Intense Dark Chocolate 86% Cacao: 36% for lead and 39% for cadmium,
• Ghirardelli Intense Dark Chocolate Twilight Delight 72% Cacao: 61% for lead and 96% for cadmium,
• Valrhona Abinao Dark Chocolate 85% Cacao: 63% for lead and 73% for cadmium.

So what can you do about the dark, dark heavy metal news from the Consumer Reports testing? Well, you don’t necessarily have to give up dark chocolate since that could be a bit like giving up happiness. One option is to stick to the five bars that had the lowest lead and cadmium levels on testing. At the same time, it will probably help to moderate the amount of dark chocolate that you eat. Sure, this would be kind of a drag since the thought has been that dark chocolate is a healthier treat than milk chocolate since it tends to have less added sugar. But eating a balanced diet doesn’t mean constantly eating dark chocolate while balancing on a yoga ball. You may want to limit your dark obsession to just a serving or so just few days a week.

Of course, it would also help for the manufacturers of dark chocolate to find ways to reduce the amounts of lead and cadmium in their bars. Heck if five bars were able to stay below the California MADLs, this presumably wouldn’t be a high bar to achieve. Consumer Reports did put together a petition entitled the “Dark Side of Dark Chocolate: Tell candy makers: Reduce risky heavy metals!” The petition addresses the CEOs of Trader Joe’s, Hershey’s, Mondelez & Theo and includes the following plea: “We call on your company to commit to reducing levels of lead and cadmium in your dark chocolate, and to publicly communicate progress so we know your company is taking action. We want to enjoy your dark chocolate without dangerous heavy metals!” Yes, unlike Luke Skywalker, you can give yourself to the dark side, at least when it comes to chocolate. You just don’t want things to be so heavy.