Cocoa / cacao
This category now blends two evidence streams carefully: Consumer Reports Oct-2023 retail cocoa testing, As You Sow’s chocolate metals database / settlement context, and live brand-level metals disclosures when a company publishes unusually specific current results. That lets me reward transparent low-metals cacao while avoiding unsupported product-level claims where CR only supports a broader cocoa-containing-food caution.
Navitas still anchors the retail cocoa-powder evidence, while Ora Cacao holds the current transparency podium. Pure Kakaw, Embue Cacao, and Santa Barbara/CocoaDynamics are transparency watchlist candidates; Wildly Organic fermented and CocoaVia remain useful but not promoted.
The caution tier separates CR-confirmed cocoa-powder problems from broader cocoa-containing mixes: Droste remains the clear worst powder, Hershey’s Natural replaces the previously unsupported Special Dark entry, and Bob’s Red Mill cake mix is included only as a cocoa-containing CR warning. Wildly Organic non-fermented cacao powder remains a caution watchlist because its own product-page COA reports cadmium slightly above the EU consumer cocoa-powder limit; Terrasoul is a softer opacity watchlist item because I found origin claims but no public Pb/Cd COA.
DO BUYTop 3 cleanest cocoas
3 verified picks · ranked by purity (lead & cadmium)
Navitas Organics Organic Cacao Powder
Still the cleanest retail cocoa powder anchor I could defend: CR's best-tested cocoa plus live third-party testing transparency from the brand.
CR: best cocoa powder tested — ~77% of lead MADL & ~17% of cadmium MADL per 1 Tbsp; brand publishes third-party metals testing
Ora Cacao Thriving Tanzania
One of the strongest transparency-based cacao picks I could verify: Ora publicly posts a current heavy-metals result of 7 ppb lead, 105 ppb cadmium, and non-detect arsenic and mercury.
Live heavy-metals page: 7 ppb lead, 105 ppb cadmium, non-detect arsenic and mercury
Ora Cacao Uplifting Uganda
Another high-transparency cacao pick: Ora currently discloses a most recent 19 ppb lead result and says its East African cacaos run lower in cadmium than its Central and South American lines.
Live heavy-metals page: most recent lead 19 ppb; East African cacaos described as lower cadmium
DO NOT BUYWorst 3 — heavy metals
3 flagged products · independent lab citations on each detail page
Droste Cacao Powder (Dutch-process)
CR Oct-2023: highest lead reading in the entire 48-product chocolate panel — ~324% of CA Prop 65 lead MADL per 1 Tbsp.
Dutch-process · ~324% Pb MADL per 1 Tbsp — CR worst
Hershey's Cocoa Naturally Unsweetened 100% Cacao
Corrected caution pick: CR says this natural Hershey's cocoa powder exceeded its lead level of concern; the old Special Dark/Dutch-process claim was too broad.
CR-tested natural cocoa · lead above CR concern level
Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Cake Mix
CR-supported caution: not a pure cocoa powder, but a cocoa-containing mix that hit ~216% of CR's lead limit per finished serving.
CR cocoa-containing mix · ~216% Pb MADL per serving
Homepage podium summary uses 3 best + 3 worst rows from the same dataset. Tap any row above for the full per-product writeup, citations and verdict.