Chocolate contains a quantity of not negligible » of cadmium, a heavy metal with harmful effects on health, warns UFC-Que Choisir on August 21, which recommends “ moderate your consumption", especially in children.
According to the consumer protection association, eating two Bjorg filled biscuits, a bowl of Chocapic and a cup of Poulain hot chocolate in the same day gives a 10-year-old child " almost half of the maximum daily dose of cadmium » from which a health risk is possible.
The toxicological reference value (TRV) of this metal which accumulates in the body and exposes to an increased risk of cardiovascular pathologies and cancer has been set at " 0.35 micrograms (μg) of cadmium per kilogram of body weight per day » by the French National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES).
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Even higher presence of cadmium in organic chocolate
At the beginning of June, private doctors warned of the massive contamination of French people – mainly children and women – with cadmium via phosphate fertilizers used in agriculture, which are found in particular in breakfast cereals, bread and potatoes.
Although the cocoa products mentioned in the UFC-Que Choisir survey comply with the maximum regulatory cadmium content according to the analysis carried out by an independent laboratory for the association in 2022, the association explained to AFP that consumers can still " exceed the tolerable daily intake by consuming several products containing cadmium in the same day“.
According to the survey, a 50-gram portion of Bjorg biscuits filled with dark chocolate represents 20% of this toxicological reference value in a child, compared to 8% for an adult. This proportion reaches 11% in children and 5% in adults for a 46-gram portion of Chocapic, or 17% and 7% for 13.5 grams of Poulain grand aroma intense chocolate powder 70% of cocoa.
Levels confirmed to the association by Bjorg and by Carambar&Co, owner of the Poulain brand, Nestlé having for its part indicated to the AFP that it does not add cadmium but that it can be " present in trace amounts in certain raw materials“.
UFC-Que Choisir also points out the even higher presence of cadmium in organic chocolate and suggests favoring organic bars. whose beans are not imported from Latin America", because cadmium is very present naturally in certain production areas of this region.
ANSES indicated to AFP at the beginning of June that it should publish " at the end of the year "its ongoing work to assess human exposure to cadmium, in order to define" levers of action to reduce the infiltration of the French population“.
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