Overview
Nešić and colleagues measured cadmium by ICP-MS in 150 milk and dark chocolates bought in Belgrade in 2022 and estimated weekly intakes and risks for seven population groups. No sample exceeded the EU limit for its cacao category. Dark chocolates had higher cadmium than milk chocolates, and toddlers and children reached up to about 61 to 64 percent of the tolerable weekly intake in the worst cases.
Key numbers
- Dark chocolate, 50 percent cacao or more (n = 49): cadmium 0.014 to 0.29 mg/kg, mean 0.057, median 0.042 mg/kg (Table 1, p. 5).
- Milk chocolate, 30 to 50 percent cacao (n = 98): 0.010 to 0.17 mg/kg, mean 0.028, median 0.023 mg/kg (Table 1).
- Milk chocolate, under 30 percent cacao (n = 3): 0.013 to 0.030 mg/kg, mean 0.024 mg/kg (Table 1).
Methods (brief)
Half a gram of chocolate was microwave-digested in nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide and measured by ICP-MS with helium collision mode. Peach leaves SRM 1547 gave 85 to 111 percent recovery; LOQ 0.001 mg/kg.
Evidence Fitness
A large, sensitive cadmium-only survey with reasonable QA, though the reference material is not a chocolate matrix. There are internal inconsistencies: sample count (150 vs 155), the dark chocolate mean (0.057 in Table 1 vs 0.028 in the text), and a median above the maximum for the smallest group. The printed citation year is 2025; the article was posted online in December 2024. Chocolate is a proxy for chocolate pudding and chocolate nut candy, which are not linked.