Cadmium is the question a technically literate cocoa buyer asks third, after price and lead time. Where the cocoa was grown answers most of it before anyone opens a laboratory report, and it is the reason we buy from Ghana.
The short answer
Our single-origin Ghana cocoa mass and natural cocoa powder test below 0.3 mg/kg cadmium and below 0.1 mg/kg lead and arsenic, tested by SGS. Packs start at 100g, so you can try it in your own recipe before you commit.
Origin decides it, and Ghana is on the right side of the line
Cadmium is not added at any point in processing. It is a metal that sits in the soil, the tree draws it up through its roots along with everything else, and it stays in the bean through fermentation, drying, roasting and grinding. Nothing a factory does takes it out.
So the growing region decides your number, and the regions are not equal. Cocoa from West Africa, Ghana included, is consistently reported far lower in cadmium than cocoa grown in the Latin American origins, because the soils are different. Parts of South America sit on ground that is naturally rich in cadmium, and the trees planted in it take it up.
You can see the size of that gap in what the law did to the trade. When the European cadmium limits came into force, they landed hardest on exporters in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, who spent years working out how to meet them, blending lots and remapping which farms could supply which product. West African origin material largely carried on. That is not marketing. It is what the regulation actually did to two sets of suppliers.
If you are buying cocoa mass or cocoa powder for a product with a tight specification, that is the single most useful thing to know before you compare quotes. A supplier who answers a cadmium question by describing their factory has not answered it. Ask them where it grew.
The limits that apply to what you make
This is the part that trips people up. In Great Britain, the cadmium ceilings in Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 attach to finished products, and the number you have to meet depends on what you are making, not on what you bought.
- Cocoa powder sold to the final consumer, including in drinking chocolate: 0.60 mg/kg
- Chocolate with 50% or more total dry cocoa solids: 0.80 mg/kg
- Chocolate with less than 50% total dry cocoa solids, and milk chocolate with 30% or more: 0.30 mg/kg
- Milk chocolate with less than 30% total dry cocoa solids: 0.10 mg/kg
Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006, as it applies in Great Britain.
Read that list again and notice the direction it runs. The tighter limits sit on the products with less cocoa in them. A dark bar at 70% has a ceiling of 0.80. A milk bar at 25% has a ceiling of 0.10, eight times tighter, because the regulation is written to control what a consumer eats rather than what a manufacturer buys.
So the same sack of cocoa mass can be comfortable in one of your products and tight in another. If you make both, the ingredient figure is where you start, not where you finish.
What our Ghana cocoa measured
Our cocoa is single-origin Ghana, processed at our partner facility in Tema. SGS, an independent laboratory, tested samples of our cocoa mass and natural cocoa powder for heavy metals, and these are the figures it measured.
- Cadmium: below 0.3 mg/kg
- Lead: below 0.1 mg/kg
- Arsenic: below 0.1 mg/kg
- Copper: 42 mg/kg in the powder, 21 mg/kg in the mass
- Zinc: 77 mg/kg in the powder, 41 mg/kg in the mass
Tested by SGS, by ICP-OES following EPA 3050 digestion.
The panel covers those five metals: lead, copper, cadmium, arsenic and zinc. Copper and zinc came back as measured numbers because cocoa genuinely carries them at those levels and they sit well above the reporting limit. They are nutritional minerals in this context, not contaminants.
The analysis was carried out on the cocoa mass and the natural cocoa powder. Nibs were not tested, though the results are a reasonable guide for them, as all three come from the same origin material.
Separately, we issue the Certificate of Analysis for the batch in stock, on request, to a named buyer. We do not publish certificates on the website, because a certificate that is not tied to the material it was taken from is decoration.
Test it against your own specification
Order a 100g or 250g pack of the line you formulate with, or ask for the Certificate of Analysis for the batch in stock first.
Why an ingredient figure is not a finished-product figure
Three things sit between the number on an ingredient certificate and the number your finished product would return, and a buyer who understands all three is much harder to mislead.
Your recipe dilutes or concentrates it
Cocoa mass at a given cadmium level, blended down with sugar, milk powder and added cocoa butter, produces a bar with a different figure. Cocoa butter carries essentially none of it, because cadmium follows the solids rather than the fat. Work the proportions.
Check the reporting limit before you compare two suppliers
Every method reports down to a stated level and no further, so two laboratories with different reporting limits produce results that look different for identical material. This is the question that catches a supplier out. Ask what the reporting limit was, and if they cannot tell you, they are forwarding paperwork they have not read.
Batches are not identical
Cocoa is an agricultural product from a variable soil. A single test result tells you what that sample measured. If your tolerance is tight, settle the heavy metals basis with your supplier at quote stage, before you specify.
Five questions that get a straight answer
- Which country, and which processing facility? If the answer is a region or a blend, the material is coming through a broker chain and the origin can rotate between orders without anyone telling you.
- What was the reporting limit on the cadmium result? This is the question that separates suppliers who understand their own paperwork from suppliers who forward it unread.
- Which metals were in the panel? Panels vary. Ask what was run rather than assuming, and ask before you specify, not after.
- What happens to the specification on my second order? Continuity is the real product. Anyone can produce one good certificate.
- Can you send the Certificate of Analysis for the batch in stock? Not a typical values sheet, not last year's. The batch.
A supplier who answers all five without hedging is worth more to you than one offering a keener number and a vague origin.
FAQ
Where does cadmium in cocoa come from?
From the soil the tree grows in. Cadmium is not added at any point in processing. The tree draws it up through its roots, it moves into the bean and it stays there through fermentation, drying, roasting and grinding, so the growing region decides it and nothing a factory does removes it.
Does Ghana cocoa have less cadmium than cocoa from the Americas?
Yes, as a regional pattern. Cadmium comes from the soil the tree grows in, and cocoa from West Africa, Ghana included, is consistently reported far lower in cadmium than cocoa from the Latin American origins, where the ground is naturally richer in it. That gap is why the European cadmium limits caused years of disruption for exporters in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia while West African material largely carried on. Origin is where a tight specification starts. On SGS samples of our single-origin Ghana cocoa mass and natural cocoa powder, cadmium came back below 0.3 mg/kg, with lead and arsenic below 0.1 mg/kg.
What is the legal cadmium limit for chocolate?
It depends on the product. In Great Britain, under Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006, chocolate with 50% or more total dry cocoa solids has a limit of 0.80 mg/kg, chocolate under 50% and milk chocolate with 30% or more have 0.30 mg/kg, milk chocolate under 30% has 0.10 mg/kg, and cocoa powder sold to the final consumer, including drinking chocolate, has 0.60 mg/kg. The limits attach to the finished product, not to the ingredient you bought.
Which heavy metals should a cocoa buyer test for?
Cadmium and lead are the two that carry regulatory limits and buyer scrutiny for cocoa and chocolate. A typical panel also reports arsenic, copper and zinc, and copper and zinc are nutritional minerals that cocoa genuinely carries at measurable levels rather than contaminants. Ask a supplier which metals were in the panel rather than assuming it covered everything, because panels vary.
How much lead is in CocoaFoundry cocoa?
Lead below 0.1 mg/kg and arsenic below 0.1 mg/kg, on SGS samples of our cocoa mass and natural cocoa powder, from the same test as the cadmium result, using ICP-OES following EPA 3050 digestion.
What did CocoaFoundry's Ghana cocoa measure?
Cadmium below 0.3 mg/kg, lead below 0.1 mg/kg and arsenic below 0.1 mg/kg, on SGS samples of our cocoa mass and natural cocoa powder, using ICP-OES following EPA 3050 digestion. Nibs were not tested, though the results are a reasonable guide for them, as all three come from the same origin material.
Can I get the Certificate of Analysis before I order?
Yes. Ask for the Certificate of Analysis and we will send it to you as a named buyer. It covers the batch in stock. We do not publish certificates on the website.
Ask where it grew
If cadmium is on your specification, the useful next step is cheap. Ask us for a sample of the line you use and the heavy metals figures above, then ask your current supplier for the same, and ask them where it grew. If the answer is South America, you now know which question to press.
Three things are worth asking us for, and they are the three that trade buyers actually send. The Certificate of Analysis for the batch in stock, tied to the material we are holding, issued to you as a named buyer, and we will give you the reporting limit the laboratory worked to with it. A sample of the line you formulate with, which is separate from your first order rather than deducted from it, because almost every buyer tests before committing and we would rather you did. And a price against your real volume, which means telling us the line, the kilos and how often, so you get a figure for that rather than a list to interpret.
One further thing buyers ask often enough that we now volunteer it. We will confirm in writing that the powder is natural and non-alkalised, because our range does not include a Dutch-processed line at all.
Our held lines are single-origin Ghana cocoa mass, natural cocoa powder (non-alkalised only), cocoa nibs and cocoa butter. Pack sizes run from 100g test packs to 20kg on the product pages, and from 25kg upward it becomes a trade quote.
Email team@cocoafoundry.co.uk for a sample and the accompanying COA, or wholesale@cocoafoundry.co.uk for a trade quote on 25kg and up. No minimum on a first order.