Question from Kristen
Hi Debra,
Indulging chocolates and chocolate ice creams while watching movies has become our stress-free Saturday evening routine. However, since I read your article stating that 68% of chocolate contain lead, we were not able to carry out our routine. I looked into your food list and found organic chocolates, but they are expensive and delivery time is lengthy. Can you help me find lead-free cholocates I can purchase at the local supermarkets?
Kristen
Debra’s Answer
Lead in chocolate is primarily found in chocolates that contain pesticides and Dutch-process cocoa. So as long as you choose an organic chocolate, and avoid products containing Dutch-process cocoa, you should be fine.
Generally organic chocolate is not sold in supermarkets (but things are changing all the time, I recently saw organic chocolate bars at Walgreen’s!). You can find a good assortment of organic chocolate bars at your local natural food stores and Trader Joe’s also has organic chocolate bars, if you have that store in your area.
One organic cacao brand not mentioned on the list, does their own heavy metal testing.
I have been buying their products for 10 years with no problems…
https://wildernessfamilynaturals.com/collections/cacao-products
Trader Joe’s is on the lead contaminant list.
Here’s the list.
I was referring to organic chocolate from Trader Joe’s, which is NOT listed, but I do now see some organic brands on the list as well.
While I’m happy they have done this test, I don’t see a date on the test and things may have changed since.