Consumer watchdog finds heavy metal cadmium in all 29 chocolate samples they tested

A Consumer Council test has found the presence of heavy metal cadmium in all 29 chocolate samples available in the Hong Kong market, with one sample detected at a level that exceeded the EU’s limit.

The watchdog warned that prolonged intake of foods of high cadmium content might pose risks to kidney functions. 

The findings came on Monday after the Council sourced 29 samples of chocolate from various retailers for testing, including 20 dark chocolate and 9 milk chocolate. 

The detected cadmium levels of the 20 dark chocolate samples ranged from 0.039mg/kg to 0.937mg/kg, a substantial 23-fold difference. Among this, the sample from “Amedei” was found with the highest detected level exceeding 17.1 percent of the maximum permitted cadmium level (0.8mg/kg) set for chocolate with a cocoa content of ≥50 percent.

As for the milk chocolate samples, the cadmium levels in them did not exceed the EU regulation’s limit, with a level ranging from 0.009mg/kg to 0.092mg/kg recorded, a difference of 9.2 times.

The council said cadmium, as a naturally occurring metal element within the earth’s crust, has extensive industrial applications.

“If the soil, air or water source of the natural habitats of plants and animals are contaminated by cadmium, it could accumulate along the food chain. Prolonged intake of food with high levels of cadmium could impair kidney functions,” it said.

The Council added it has referred the sample with cadmium levels exceeding the EU limit to the Centre for Food Safety for follow-up.

As for other heavy metals, all 20 dark chocolate samples were detected with lead while nine were detected with arsenic. Five out of the nine milk chocolate samples were detected with lead while none were found with arsenic.

However, all samples did not exceed the maximum permitted levels set out in the Chinese national standard in foods, according to the watchdog.