There is a lot of recent discussion on lead and cadmium in some chocolate brands that I wanted to address: A study from a consumer reports organization has tested mostly large and some small brands on cadmium and lead levels. Out of the 28 tested, 23 bars of chocolate — which were produced by the likes of Trader Joe’s, Tony’s, Pascha, Lily’s, Hu, Hershey’s, Godiva, and Lindt to name a few that had super high levels of either lead or cadmium. The smaller premium brands they tested were mostly ok. I’m glad to hear that buying premium quality proofs to be healthy in that regard as well. Antidote was not part of this test, but we do tests ourselves and generally refer to European Standards.

Do you wonder how cadmium and lead gets into chocolate? Cadmium is absorbed through the soil into the trees. All our fine aroma cacao is form Ecuador and luckily Ecuador has not had much problem with cadmium. 

Lead on the other hand is a post harvest issue, and can be prevented with proper and save handling practices. Knowing our farmers, their process and facility of their post-harvest practices, I can say with confidence that there is no issue for the cacao we use at Antidote. 

Please see below test results as for cadmium and lead. (Sorry, we only have them available in spanish).