Heavy Metals in Chocolate

These days news about heavy metals in food are all over the place. We were shocked when we saw how many large companies are being sued across the globe for exceeding harmful heavy metal levels in their products. Many of our customers have started asking this question and hence this page was created to spread awareness.

Heavy metals are found in everything what we eat. They are in our lentils, vegetables, meat, fruits and all the products consumed by us. This whole problem starts from the source which are farms where all the ingredients are grown.

Let’s accept this fact, we can never avoid heavy metals and they will be there in our food how much ever organic food we consume. Yes, you read it right!!!

The questions we might have:

What are heavy metals and why are they in our food?

Why are they harmful?

Heavy metals are naturally occurring metallic elements with high density  and atomic weight compared to water. Not all heavy metals are harmful to us. But if their presence exceed after certain levels they become very fatal to our health. FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India), the F&B regulatory body of India, sets limits of presence of  every harmful heavy metal. Exceeding prescribed limits make those products harmful for our health causing cancer, organ damage, fertility issues etc.

Because of heavy usage of pesticides, increased pollution and contamination of water used for farming are some of the reasons for increasing levels of heavy metals in our food. Commercial crop production has increased all over the world and to increase production its become imperative to use pesticides and other harmful chemicals by the farmers. Its not there mistake but of the large corporations which make and promote these products.

High levels of heavy metals like Arsenic, Cadmium and lead can damage cell structure of our organs causing irreversible health complication starting from head to toe. Then obviously this will scare us to the core when we hear there is cadmium or lead in our food. As I said earlier, we can never avoid them as they are very much inherent to the ecosystem we live in. The only thing we should see is to consume food which is organically grown using clean water and without using pesticides or harmful chemicals which contain heavy metals.

Chocolate manufacturing industry is no alien to the heavy metals in their products. Many global brands known for or portrayed as the pinnacle of quality are getting sued for high heavy metals in their products. Cocoa is prone to many diseases and pests leading to usage of heavy pesticides. The commercial production in zones like Africa is such that they supply 70% of the cocoa required worldwide. There is always immense pressure to increase the produce with rising demand for chocolate leading to usage of pesticides and chemicals. This is a problem which no one can solve immediately. All these large companies will shrug this off by paying fines and getting back to business as usual with some shady positioning of their products.

How Craft Chocolate makers are doing it!!!

Craft chocolate makers take extreme care while procuring cacao from the farmers conducting thorough lab tests and using only the cacao grown using organic methods. Usually, cacao is procured from one farm with sustainable and organic farming practices. This becomes very inherent to the business craft chocolate makers are in. If you test the chocolate made by a craft chocolate maker the heavy metal levels are always BLQ (Below the level of quantification).

We at Soothys, procure our cacao from one farmer based out of Tanuku where industrial pollution is minimal or doesn’t exist and the land is naturally fertile. Our farmer partners grow their cacao using organic farming practices. By sustainable procurement of cacao through direct sourcing, Soothys provides better prices to farmers for their produce. Even with cocoa crisis across the world, drastic increase in cocoa prices and mad rush to procure cocoa, craft chocolate makers are maintaining strong partnerships with farmer communities to get safe products to the market for their customers.

Now you know why chocolate you buy from a craft chocolate maker is more expensive than the ones from large companies. Make informed decisions, stay safe and have a nice flavorful chocolate everyday.

information sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557806/

https://cdma.ap.gov.in/sites/default/files/EIA&EMP%20Report%20Tanuku.pdf