Millions of Americans rush to buy chocolate for Mother’s Day on Sunday, but a watchdog warns that many brands are laced with toxic heavy metals.
Consumer Reports warned Americans who want to gift dark chocolate to their mothers this year that unsafe levels of lead and cadmium are lurking in some of the most popular brands.
The warning comes in response to research conducted by the group last year that found that 28 popular dark chocolates contained levels of both types of heavy metal above levels considered safe.
Cadmium, which seeps into cocoa beans as they grow, and lead, which is a byproduct of dried beans once harvested, have been linked to developmental delays, cancer, and organ failure.
The image above shows the 28 chocolate bars tested by New York-based nonprofit Consumer Reports. They were all found to contain lead and cadmium. Consumer Reports compared the levels of the heavy metal in about an ounce of the chocolates to recommended daily exposure levels from the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. These have not been determined specifically for foodstuffs, but globally
Brian Ronholm, food policy director for CR said: ‘Mothers across the country will be showered with gifts on Mother’s Day and for many that is dark chocolate, a popular favourite.
“Consumers should be aware that many dark chocolate products contain high levels of heavy metals that have been linked to numerous health problems in children and adults.”
CR found in product testing that Hershey’s was the biggest offender, with one of its dark chocolate bars having the highest lead content of the 28 total products and others having a high cadmium content.
The organization found that 23 of the 28 bars tested contained lead levels up to two and a half times the standard threshold. Cadmium levels were up to three times higher.
Hershey’s has been under pressure lately to reduce contamination with cadmium, which cocoa plants absorb from the soil they grow in, and lead, which appears to contaminate beans after they’re harvested and dried.
Lily’s Extremely Dark Chocolate 85 Percent Cacao, owned by Hershey’s, was one of five CR tested bars with high levels of both lead and cadmium, while Hershey’s Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate had the highest lead content of all bars tested. And the Scharffen Berger Extra Dark Chocolate 82 percent cocoa bar, also owned by Hershey’s, was one of the bars with the highest cadmium content in the CR tests.
Mr Ronholm said: ‘Our testing has shown that it is possible to make dark chocolate products with lower levels of heavy metals that are safer for consumers. As a leading and popular chocolate brand, we are urging Hershey’s to protect consumers from the dark side of dark chocolate by reducing the heavy metal content of its products.”
Another ten bars contained more lead than recommended, and eight bars contained more cadmium than California levels allowed.
Only five bars — made by Ghirardelli, Valrhona, Taza Chocolate and Mast — had levels below acceptable standards.
The amounts of metals in chocolate bars are not high enough to be immediately life-threatening and a person would need to consume at least one bar per day to suffer serious long-term damage as a result.
To determine if the products contained hazardous levels, the nonprofit measured them against standards set by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA).
The standards — set for general exposure, not food safety — say people shouldn’t be exposed to more than 0.5 micrograms (mcg) of lead and 4.1 micrograms of cadmium per day.
Exposure to small doses of cadmium in food over a long period of time can also contribute to kidney failure and weak bones. Cadmium is usually carcinogenic when inhaled in air and is a by-product of cigarette smoke.
Lead is known to be dangerous to humans, as it causes memory loss, abdominal pain, and bad mood in adults after prolonged exposure.
Even low exposure to lead can cause a range of health problems, including shorter attention spans and numerous learning disabilities, cardiovascular and respiratory problems, lower IQ, delayed growth in children and, at higher concentrations, seizures, permanent nerve and brain damage, and the dead.
While dark chocolate is lauded for its health benefits, from promoting heart health to packing a hefty dose of antioxidants, the CR report suggests that leading chocolate makers fail to ensure their products are safe before they reach the leave the factory.
Cadmium is naturally present in the soil and the metal accumulates in cocoa beans as the tree grows.
Lead, meanwhile, was not found in the cocoa beans themselves, but rather on the outer shells. Lead levels were low shortly after the beans were picked and removed from their pods, but increased as the beans dried for days in the sun as lead-filled dust and dirt accumulated on the beans.