Are There Heavy Metals in Milk Chocolate?

To understand why, it helps to know what makes up a chocolate bar. To make chocolate, growers harvest cacao beans from cacao trees. These beans are fermented, dried, and roasted. They’re crushed and separated into nonfat cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Cocoa solids and cocoa butter are key ingredients for chocolate—which also contains sugar, sometimes other fats or flavorings and, in the case of milk chocolate, milk solids. The cocoa solids are where cocoa beans’ flavonols are found, but they’re also where lead and cadmium may accumulate.

Dark chocolate contains higher levels of cocoa solids than milk chocolate, which is why researchers say that dark chocolate is more likely to contain heavy metals. But since milk chocolate still contains cocoa solids, it’s possible for heavy metals to be detected in milk chocolate bars, though typically at lower quantities.

That matches CR’s latest findings—we detected metals, but at lower levels. And As You Sow, an organization that pushes for corporate accountability, has also tested some milk chocolate bars (you can filter their search results by chocolate type to see results) alongside dark chocolate bars. And while they’ve detected cadmium and lead in some, the levels are typically very low, lower than the levels often found in dark chocolate.

Still, while milk chocolate has lower levels of heavy metals, it typically has more sugar than dark chocolate. For example, an ounce of a Hershey Milk Chocolate Bar has 13 grams of added sugars—about three teaspoons worth. A similarly sized serving of Ghirardelli Intense Dark 86 percent cacao—one of the dark chocolates that had comparatively lower cadmium and lead levels in CR’s test—has about 3 grams of added sugars. Milk chocolate is also lower in antioxidants than dark. For those reasons, CR’s experts suggest following a rule that could apply to all chocolate: Consume it as an occasional treat.