Consumer Reports said on Wednesday it had found "concerning" levels of lead and cadmium in a third of various chocolate products it tested recently, and called on Hershey to reduce the amounts of heavy metals in its chocolate.
I haven't eaten Hershey's in so long because I remember it tasting mildly of vomit. Am I the only one who thinks the flavor has hints of vomit? What even is that?
There's more lead allowed in a liter of drinking water in the US than a serving of any of the chocolates being reported, as far as I can find. (15 micrograms per liter.) Provided nobody's eating a few dozen bars of chocolate in a single sitting I can't imagine accumulating enough to cause acute harm from the chocolate alone. Chasing down Hershey, Nestle et al to hold them accountable is great, but in terms of toxic metals we'd have more success and greater impact lighting up the news about water supplies.
Just mildly frustrated that I continue to see talk about chocolate while drinking water is a necessity and consumed in greater amounts daily but rarely gets reported outside of extreme cases like Flint.
If you sort by highest lead content you get "NOW Healthy Foods Certified Organic Cocoa Powder 100% Pure" as the top result, and highest cadmium content you get "Sunfood Super Foods Raw Cacao Powder- Certified Organic" at the top.
I find it hilariously ironic that the two highest ones are "Certified Organic". Also, the highest lead one was "100% pure".
I mean they kinda do, the cacao tree pulls those elements (cadmium) out of the soil or the cacao is in contact with soil containing those elements during processing. Many brands have issues with lead and cadmium but it can be mitigated by choosing a better supplier, frequent testing, and protecting product better during shipment. Mentioning Hershey's is going to draw a lot of attention especially right before Halloween but it's a common issue in chocolate.
Edited with some corrections. Also mrchampion pointed out further down in this thread that it is likely the lead contamination comes from leaded gasoline during shipment.
The article mentions that the cadmium can largely be mitigated by preventing the beans from touching dirt in the drying process and shielding them from heavy metal dust. The lead though is probably introduced at the factory, and that's obviously a problem but not immediately clear where it's being introduced.
It also mentions that the only likely reason milk chocolate doesn't have these unsafe levels is because the dairy content reduces the amount of pure chocolate requires for the mix. So both milk and dark chocolate are bad, it's just milk chocolate has cocoa in it and thus less heavy metal.
But we just brought out "Her She" packaging. Now you want us to remove lead, which was saving us over a quarter cent per pallet? Millennial entitlement is truly boundless.
This was the report that started a run on dark chocolate from certain sources that helped raise prices to the crazy levels they are now (along with a worldwide shortage).
I ate a chunky bar the other night, because you know, sadness, and then went for a run a while later. A mile or so in my kidneys started to hurt. I can't say it was for sure the chunky bar but they haven't hurt like that before or since. What type of villainous corporate hack poisons the thing that's supposed to be the small escape of joy?
Also, Chunky is Nestle but still my bias says poison. I'm prepared to now receive your insults for liking Chunky bars.
The common thread seems to be the concentration of cocoa solids, since all the concerning products had greater levels (dark chocolate, powders, etc). The Chucky bar being milk chocolate should be fine, per the article.