CADMIUM LEVEL IN COCOA POWDER AND CHOCOLATE AND THEIR CONFORMITY TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL REGULATIONS
Authors: Suzannah Sharif, Rahmat Mohamed, Badrul Hisyam Zainudin, Abdul Syukur Yaakob
Journal Issue: Malaysian Cocoa Journal, Volume 14/2022
Keywords: Cadmium level, cocoa powder, chocolate, national regulation, international regulations
Published On: 10/05/2022
Abstract
Contamination of heavy metals in human diets is a topic of concern in many countries around the world since high concentration of heavy metals may cause health problems in human. Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal. It is persistent in the soil and its bioavailability changes depending on the properties of the soil. Cadmium is absorbed and bioaccumulated by cocoa trees, resulting in unacceptably high levels of cadmium in cocoa beans. The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) in their recent exposure assessment of cadmium in all food sources concludes that cocoa products are not a major contributor of dietary cadmium. Malaysia currently regulates cadmium for cocoa and cocoa products at 1mg/kg. The European Union implement a new regulation for chocolate and cocoa powder starting January 2019. Codex has adopted maximum residue limits for two categories of chocolate and in the process for the adoption of maximum residue limits for cocoa powder and two more chocolate categories. From 2017 to 2020, 95 samples of cocoa powder were analysed. The cadmium level in these samples ranged between 0.05-1.61 mg/kg with an average of 0.47 mg/kg. Based on 81 samples of milk chocolate, the cadmium level ranged between 0.00-0.22 mg/kg with average of 0.05 mg/kg. Meanwhile cadmium content from 72 samples of dark chocolate ranged from 0.02-0.36 mg/kg with average of 0.10 mg/kg.