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What is this article? This is a chocolate company PR plant article, which have been hitting the presses hard with this message. It is disaster management / e

*What is this article?* This is a chocolate company PR plant article, which have been hitting the presses hard with this message. It is disaster management / emergency PR. They don’t want to discuss bioaccumulation of heavy metals because it would be very bad for business. It’s not new. And it’s especially bad for children so you can imagine what the chocolate industry worries about at night. *Isnt all food bad in excess of RDA?* There is a big difference between eating in an unhealthy way and selling a product that has known health effects that are especially egregious for kids, so don’t pay any kind to the other counterargument big chocolate likes to press: that any food in excess is unhealthy. It’s now wrong, but it’s a classic straw man argument (or a cake or cupcake argument really). So then “should we make cupcakes illegal then?” Well. Uh. Unfortunately: yes, if they contain large amounts of cadmium or any measurable amount of lead we absolutely should — no amount of lead in food is considered “safe” especially for kids.)). *You must hate chocolate.* I love chocolate. Why can’t we process this stuff out of it so we can enjoy it properly? Anyone an expert in heavy metals removal from food? Save chocolate please. The world needs you. *This is just one article on one piece of research.* A few earlier articles and research that bolsters the case: https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2015/02/16/Lead-and-cadmium-metals-in-chocolate-Hershey-and-Mars-face-lawsuit https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2015/02/16/Lead-an... https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/10y9yhe/ysk_as_you_sow_has_tested_chocolate_for_heavy/ https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/comments/10y9yhe/ysk_... https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/heavy-metals-found-in-popular-brands-of-dark-chocolate https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/heavy-metals-fou... https://time.com/6243073/heavy-metals-dark-chocolate-food/ https://time.com/6243073/heavy-metals-dark-chocolate-food/

TylerE 3y ago
There’s also a big difference between ethically sourced, tester boutique chocolate and Hersheys/Cadburys type swill that isn’t fit for the name.
- gruez 3y ago
  What does ethical sourcing have to do with heavy metal poisoning?
  - totetsu 3y ago
    This is just conjecture but, some of the other comments here have said that the lead contamination come from environmental contamination during the harvesting and fermenting process. If non-ethically sourced cocoa is coming from farmers earning below poverty level incomes for their crops, they may not have the ability or incentive to avoid this contamination.
  - richbell 3y ago
    I've heard that mass-produced chocolate tends to source cocoa from the Ivory Coast, which has an alarming amount of heavy metals in their soil. This is just hearsay though, I don't have any specific sources that compare between Africa and South America. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Sediment-trace-metal-contamination-in-the-Ivory-Kouadio-Trefry/aa23711196bb9efc427020dbb244f909365a9216 https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Sediment-trace-metal-c...
    - defrost 3y ago
      > I don't have any specific sources that compare between Africa and South America. I do, but they'll kill me (figuratively) if I publish them. Which highlights the issue of dark | private data. There's the public USGS National Geochemical Database: Soil for central north america: https://mrdata.usgs.gov/ngdb/soil/ https://mrdata.usgs.gov/ngdb/soil/ There's a Geochemical Atlas of Europe: http://weppi.gtk.fi/publ/foregsatlas/ http://weppi.gtk.fi/publ/foregsatlas/ and a "work in progress" Global Geochemical Baselines database under development that will reference the available glonal surveys in the public domain, buuuut ... If you want solid usable data from across the globe you probably want to access the pooled transnational mega mining companies database of surface geochemical results, back in 2008 the <redacted> companies portion was some 16 TB of raw sample results from every conutry and territories across the globe. Not complete of course, but once you mosaic that with other collections of a similar size .. that's something pretty neat.
- ericmcer 3y ago
  Hersheys actually has very few heavy metals. They come from cacao so cheap milk chocolate has far fewer than boutique dark ones.
- ars 3y ago
  Yes, there's a big difference. The "ethically sourced, tester boutique chocolate" is likely to have higher levels of heavy metals. The larger companies are better able to setup processes to avoid the metals - go look at the original data and see.
  - richbell 3y ago
    I don't know if that's necessarily the whole story. Boutique chocolates tend to contain more cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Larger companies tend not to use as much and instead have fillers like palm oil. It's then no surprise that a boutique dark chocolate might have more contaminants than mass-produced milk or dark chocolate.
    - ars 3y ago
      So then compare to the mass produced dark chocolate that doesn't have filers. There's tons of it, just plain dark chocolate chips. (As opposed to a candy bar.)
gruez 3y ago
>It’s now wrong, but it’s a classic straw man argument (or a cake or cupcake argument really — “should we make cupcakes illegal then?” (Uh. Yes, if they contain large amounts of cadmium or lead we absolutely should — you want me to give lead paint in food to your kids?)). It's ironic that in the course of calling out a straw man, that you went with an example that's the easiest to defeat. What about tuna? They also contain large amounts of heavy metals, so much so that some authorities recommend you only eat a few cans a week. Should we banning tuna as well?
- throwawaaarrgh 3y ago
  Actually, yes, but more because we're causing the species to disappear and they're an integral part of the worldwide biosphere. Systems of systems are kooky.
- richbell 3y ago
  I suppose the difference is that we openly acknowledge the risks of eating wild fish and dissuade people from consuming too much.
  - happytiger 3y ago
    This is the answer.
- byproxy 3y ago
  The selenium in certain fish (particularly, it seems, tuna) may be enough to offset the adverse effects of the mercury present (known as the "health benefit value of selenium (HBVSe)": https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FS437 https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FS437

*What is this article?* This is a chocolate company PR plant article, which have been hitting the presses hard with this message. It is disaster management / e

TylerE 3y ago

There’s also a big difference between ethically sourced, tester boutique chocolate and Hersheys/Cadburys type swill that isn’t fit for the name.

gruez 3y ago
What does ethical sourcing have to do with heavy metal poisoning?
- totetsu 3y ago
  This is just conjecture but, some of the other comments here have said that the lead contamination come from environmental contamination during the harvesting and fermenting process. If non-ethically sourced cocoa is coming from farmers earning below poverty level incomes for their crops, they may not have the ability or incentive to avoid this contamination.
- richbell 3y ago
  I've heard that mass-produced chocolate tends to source cocoa from the Ivory Coast, which has an alarming amount of heavy metals in their soil. This is just hearsay though, I don't have any specific sources that compare between Africa and South America. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Sediment-trace-metal-contamination-in-the-Ivory-Kouadio-Trefry/aa23711196bb9efc427020dbb244f909365a9216 https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Sediment-trace-metal-c...
  - defrost 3y ago
    > I don't have any specific sources that compare between Africa and South America. I do, but they'll kill me (figuratively) if I publish them. Which highlights the issue of dark | private data. There's the public USGS National Geochemical Database: Soil for central north america: https://mrdata.usgs.gov/ngdb/soil/ https://mrdata.usgs.gov/ngdb/soil/ There's a Geochemical Atlas of Europe: http://weppi.gtk.fi/publ/foregsatlas/ http://weppi.gtk.fi/publ/foregsatlas/ and a "work in progress" Global Geochemical Baselines database under development that will reference the available glonal surveys in the public domain, buuuut ... If you want solid usable data from across the globe you probably want to access the pooled transnational mega mining companies database of surface geochemical results, back in 2008 the <redacted> companies portion was some 16 TB of raw sample results from every conutry and territories across the globe. Not complete of course, but once you mosaic that with other collections of a similar size .. that's something pretty neat.
ericmcer 3y ago
Hersheys actually has very few heavy metals. They come from cacao so cheap milk chocolate has far fewer than boutique dark ones.
ars 3y ago
Yes, there's a big difference. The "ethically sourced, tester boutique chocolate" is likely to have higher levels of heavy metals. The larger companies are better able to setup processes to avoid the metals - go look at the original data and see.
- richbell 3y ago
  I don't know if that's necessarily the whole story. Boutique chocolates tend to contain more cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Larger companies tend not to use as much and instead have fillers like palm oil. It's then no surprise that a boutique dark chocolate might have more contaminants than mass-produced milk or dark chocolate.
  - ars 3y ago
    So then compare to the mass produced dark chocolate that doesn't have filers. There's tons of it, just plain dark chocolate chips. (As opposed to a candy bar.)

gruez 3y ago

>It’s now wrong, but it’s a classic straw man argument (or a cake or cupcake argument really — “should we make cupcakes illegal then?” (Uh. Yes, if they contain large amounts of cadmium or lead we absolutely should — you want me to give lead paint in food to your kids?)). It's ironic that in the course of calling out a straw man, that you went with an example that's the easiest to defeat. What about tuna? They also contain large amounts of heavy metals, so much so that some authorities recommend you only eat a few cans a week. Should we banning tuna as well?

throwawaaarrgh 3y ago
Actually, yes, but more because we're causing the species to disappear and they're an integral part of the worldwide biosphere. Systems of systems are kooky.
richbell 3y ago
I suppose the difference is that we openly acknowledge the risks of eating wild fish and dissuade people from consuming too much.
- happytiger 3y ago
  This is the answer.
byproxy 3y ago
The selenium in certain fish (particularly, it seems, tuna) may be enough to offset the adverse effects of the mercury present (known as the "health benefit value of selenium (HBVSe)": https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FS437 https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FS437