Chocolate and Pesticides / Organic Cocoa

“ANT” ISN’T NECESSARILY THE WORST PART OF “CHOCOLATE-COVERED ANT”
Chocolate and Pesticides — Are Pesticide Residues Enough to Make You Buy Organic Cocoa?

The gossip-wire reports you may have heard—that the Grinning Planet founder's normal breakfast used to be Cocoa-Puffs topped with Nestle Morsels and chocolate milk—are true. But these days, he has reformed: Now, only ORGANIC chocolate is allowed in the breakfast bowl!

Chocolate makes a nice treat for your taste buds and is a favorite gift for special occasions. But why should you give a chocolate-covered rat's rear about whether the chocolate is organic or not? Well, think "chocolate and pesticides." When you buy products made with organic cocoa, you minimize your risk of ingesting pesticide residues, it's better for the environment and farmer workers, and the chocolate usually tastes better. More on the in a minute. First a word about the pesticides in chocolate.

CHOCOLATE AND PESTICIDES / ORGANIC COCOA

Pesticides in Chocolate

For chocolate from cocoa beans imported into the US, the EPA allows various levels of pesticide residue to be present in the cocoa powder. Below are just a few of the pesticides that can legally contaminate non-organic chocolate, along with some of their health effects (based on animal studies).

• Methyl Bromide — prostate cancer, kidney and liver effects, neurological effects
• Pyrethrins — carcinogenicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, neurotoxicity
• Hydrogen Cyanide — acute toxicity, thyroid effects, nerve degeneration
• Naled — central nervous system disruption; headaches, nausea and diarrhea
• Glyphosate — effects on digestive system tissue, genetic damage, effects on reproduction, carcinogenicity

Lindane—a pesticide best known for use as a treatment for head lice—is banned in the US for use on food crops but has been found to be a contaminant in some European chocolate.

Now, just because you pop any old chocolate treat in your mouth doesn't mean you're getting huge doses of pesticide poison. However, the US FDA's Total Diet Study has found residues of multiple pesticides in many chocolate products. The Food & Drug Administration works to ensure that the level of pesticide residue is within the US EPA's established tolerances, but for many of us, the real question is whether we want any pesticide residue at all in the chocolate.

CHOCOLATE AND PESTICIDES / ORGANIC COCOA

The Good News — Organic!

The good news for chocolate lovers is that organic chocolate products give you the palate rush without the pesticide risk. And in terms of taste, organic cocoa often gives chocolate a richer, "more chocolaty" flavor because of the way the organic cocoa beans were grown. Cocoa plants thrive in the shade of the rainforest—their natural habitat—where favorable nutrients and the lack of direct sunlight give the cocoa plant its best growing conditions. There's no guarantee that the organic chocolate you buy was made from beans grown under natural rainforest canopy, but the chances are much better than if you buy non-organic chocolate, which is often grown in direct sunlight.

CHOCOLATE AND PESTICIDES / ORGANIC COCOA

Wrap-Up

Remember that pesticides are not only toxic to people, they are an environmental problem as well. By purchasing organic chocolate, you benefit yourself (or your special someone) and all the critters, big and small, who are spared the effects of pesticides in and around the green spaces where the organic chocolate was grown. Organic, shade-grown chocolate is also emerging as an important economic alternative to destruction of rainforest acreage for other forms of agriculture. And "fair trade" chocolate is helping to ensure that small farmers can stay on their land and farm in a responsible manner.

"As with most fine things, chocolate has its season. There is a simple memory aid that you can use to determine whether it is the correct time to order chocolate dishes: any month whose name contains the letter A, E, or U is the proper time for chocolate."

— Sandra Boynton