(WatchDogReport.org) – Some people love heavy metal in their music, where they can bang their heads to their heart’s content. However, when speaking about elements like lead and cadmium in one’s food, it can become a problem. This is why scientists are warning consumers about dark chocolate candy that contains one or both of those potentially dangerous heavy metal elements.
Consumer Reports scientists recently measured the amount of heavy metals in 28 dark chocolate bars. They detected cadmium and lead in all of them… For 23 of the bars, eating just 1 oz a day would put an adult over a potentially harmful level of lead. https://t.co/oFep6KNH3r
— Claudia Persico (@ClaudiaLPersico) December 17, 2022
Consumer Reports (CR) recently released the results of their study of 28 dark chocolate candy bars and measured levels of lead and cadmium against the California maximum allowable dose level (MADL) as it is one of the few legal standards published on the matter. Some examples of what they found include:
- Hershey’s Special Dark had 265% of the maximum lead level, but only 30% of the cadmium limit.
- Trader Joe’s 85% cacao dark chocolate lover’s bar contained 127% of lead, and 229% of cadmium.
- Godiva signature dark chocolate (72% cacao) has 146% of the MADL for lead and 25% for cadmium.
For 23 out of 28 of the products tested by CR, an adult could accumulate harmful levels of metals by eating just one ounce per day. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), exposure to unsafe levels of lead can cause kidney and brain damage or even death.
The CDC website says that eating large amounts of cadmium can cause problems with one’s digestive tract, and it’s a known carcinogen. Environmental and human rights activist group As You Sow says it conducted laboratory tests on a much larger sample (469 chocolate products) and found levels exceeding the MADLs in 285 of them.
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