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World News See other World News Articles Title: 24 Popular Chocolate Brands Whose Products Contain Heavy Metals Lead and Cadmium Why Are Heavy Metals Found In Chocolate? One word: contamination. While manufacturers claim that lead and cadmium are absorbed by the cacao plant in trace amounts and come from naturally-occurring sources, research claims otherwise. An article published in Environmental Health Perspectives looked at the studies done by American, Nigerian, British, and Australian researchers. They concluded that only a small percentage of contamination is coming from the soil itself. The big contributor? The shipping and processing of cocoa products (3). Another study published by As You Sow (the same people who conducted the heavy metals in chocolate study), found that lead and cadmium contaminate chocolate via the following routes (4): – Soil contamination due to man-made pollution – Direct application of pesticides and sewage sludge disposal containing lead and cadmium, as well as fertilizers containing cadmium – Processing: fermentation, drying the beans, manufacturing (drying, refining, cinching), shipping, handling, packaging According to As You Sow, the largest contributor to heavy metal contamination in chocolate occurs after the beans have already been harvested and dried. Shipment and manufacturing of cocoa and chocolate products is also a major contributor (5). In the U.S., there is no set limit for these metals in chocolate, aside from California, where chocolate makers are required to put a warning label on their products if they contain more than 4.1 mg of cadmium per daily serving. This is unlike the European Union, who has developed strict guidelines for cadmium exposure: no more than 0.10 mg/kg of cadmium in milk chocolate, and no more than 0.30 mg/kg of cadmium for darker chocolates. A recent review published in 2019 pointed out a variety of different studies that looked into heavy metal concentrations in cacao and cocoa products (6). One of the studies looked at in the review explained that processing methods accounted for increased concentration of heavy metals. This also explains why milk chocolate might show up as having lower levels of heavy metals, as the percentage of cocoa powder in chocolate products is directly proportional to their corresponding lead and cadmium levels (7). In addition, some studies have found that cadmium concentration in cocoa beans do not show any significant difference between cocoa cultivated under organic versus conventional production (8). Brands of Chocolate to Avoid As You Sow laboratory-tested 70 chocolate products. Results showed that over 45 of them contained higher levels of lead and cadmium than would be safe in our drinking water. The brands that tested unsafe are included below. Those marked in red contain lead and cadmium; and blue contains lead only: THE LIST DOES NOT COPY. YOU WILL HAVE TO GO TO THE URL TO FIND YOURS LISTED. ALL MAJOR BRANDS ARE ON THE LIST. Safer Chocolate Brands The unfortunate reality is, is that most of the chocolate grown comes from soil that is contaminated with heavy metals. This goes for both organic and non-organic chocolate. This, in addition to the fact that certain processing methods may increase heavy metal concentration in chocolate, makes finding safe chocolate quite difficult. I have personally reached out to some companies to check for heavy metal contamination, but none of them have given me clear answers on whether their chocolate is free from these contaminants. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 2.
#2. To: Horse, Esso (#0)
(Edited)
Get up and kill! :)
#3. To: Esso, Kim (#2)
Does that count as putting up Halloween decorations for this year?
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