Cadmium-free chocolate or cadmium contamination in chocolate is a problem of natural origin. While the mass of cocoa is processed into "consumer cocoa or supermarket chocolate" and comes mainly from the Ivory Coast and Ghana, the "fine cocoa" comes mainly from South America. Fine cocoa is a term used to describe a type of cocoa of very high aroma and quality. These grow only in certain countries, defined in the International Cocoa Agreement. Consumer cocoa from Africa is little to unaffected by cadmium, while it occurs naturally in fine cocoa from countries such as Mexico, Bolivia, Honduras Ecuador and Papua New Guinea, as well as the Caribbean Islands.
"The reason for that is volcanic rock, and that's the cause for the cadmium, because volcanic rock has a lot of cadmium, and the cocoa bean growing on such rock," says Ursula Blum of the Chemical and Veterinary Investigation Office in Fellbach. How much clay and organic material a soil contains also plays a role. "This in turn binds cadmium. So it is no longer readily available to plants."
By regularly consuming dark chocolate (with a high cocoa content), consumers could ingest considerable amounts of cadmium over years. Particularly at the urging of manufacturers of supermarket chocolates, which tend to be made from African cocoa (and which they hope will give them a competitive advantage), the EU therefore decided on cadmium limits for cocoa products, effective from January 2019. Since then, a 100-gram bar of dark chocolate with more than 50 percent cocoa content may contain a maximum of 0.08 milligrams of cadmium.
However, researchers at ETH Zurich, whose research findings led to the introduction of the limits, believe that no one should have to give up eating dark chocolate because of cadmium. The heavy metal is also found in wheat, spinach and kale. In addition, smokers ingest appreciable amounts of cadmium through tobacco smoke, up to half the tolerance level recommended by the WHO. "With these foods and stimulants we take in a relevant part of the daily dose of cadmium, there's a bit of dark chocolate in there all the same," said the ETH professor. People with iron deficiency and vegetarians also take up more cadmium.
Of course, all manufacturers test for possible exposure. Only if the contamination is below the permissible EU-wide limit is the chocolate manufacturer allowed to sell the chocolate in the EU at all. However, there are currently few chocolatiers explicitly stating cadmium contamination or that the chocolate is cadmium-free. If it is available to us that a product is designated cadmium-free chocolate, we will list the chocolates here.
Cadmium-free chocolate or cadmium contamination in chocolate is a problem of natural origin. While the mass of cocoa is processed into "consumer cocoa or supermarket chocolate" and comes mainly...
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Cadmium-free chocolate
Cadmium-free chocolate or cadmium contamination in chocolate is a problem of natural origin. While the mass of cocoa is processed into "consumer cocoa or supermarket chocolate" and comes mainly from the Ivory Coast and Ghana, the "fine cocoa" comes mainly from South America. Fine cocoa is a term used to describe a type of cocoa of very high aroma and quality. These grow only in certain countries, defined in the International Cocoa Agreement. Consumer cocoa from Africa is little to unaffected by cadmium, while it occurs naturally in fine cocoa from countries such as Mexico, Bolivia, Honduras Ecuador and Papua New Guinea, as well as the Caribbean Islands.
"The reason for that is volcanic rock, and that's the cause for the cadmium, because volcanic rock has a lot of cadmium, and the cocoa bean growing on such rock," says Ursula Blum of the Chemical and Veterinary Investigation Office in Fellbach. How much clay and organic material a soil contains also plays a role. "This in turn binds cadmium. So it is no longer readily available to plants."
By regularly consuming dark chocolate (with a high cocoa content), consumers could ingest considerable amounts of cadmium over years. Particularly at the urging of manufacturers of supermarket chocolates, which tend to be made from African cocoa (and which they hope will give them a competitive advantage), the EU therefore decided on cadmium limits for cocoa products, effective from January 2019. Since then, a 100-gram bar of dark chocolate with more than 50 percent cocoa content may contain a maximum of 0.08 milligrams of cadmium.
However, researchers at ETH Zurich, whose research findings led to the introduction of the limits, believe that no one should have to give up eating dark chocolate because of cadmium. The heavy metal is also found in wheat, spinach and kale. In addition, smokers ingest appreciable amounts of cadmium through tobacco smoke, up to half the tolerance level recommended by the WHO. "With these foods and stimulants we take in a relevant part of the daily dose of cadmium, there's a bit of dark chocolate in there all the same," said the ETH professor. People with iron deficiency and vegetarians also take up more cadmium.
Of course, all manufacturers test for possible exposure. Only if the contamination is below the permissible EU-wide limit is the chocolate manufacturer allowed to sell the chocolate in the EU at all. However, there are currently few chocolatiers explicitly stating cadmium contamination or that the chocolate is cadmium-free. If it is available to us that a product is designated cadmium-free chocolate, we will list the chocolates here.
