Comparative Chart of Cocoa Powder Products

Published: October 11, 2025

The image on this page is a comparative chart of toxicant levels found in the five different cocoa powder / cacao powder products that we have tested and reported on to date. Below are links to the articles with lab reports for each of the products noted in the chart. In this chart the products are arranged in order of Cadmium level, ascending. Cadmium is a known carcinogen (Cadmium exposure has been confirmed to be causally linked to cancer).

• While no level of Cadmium is safe for consumption (there is not a minimum acceptable level of exposure for Cadmium, it is not an essential trace nutrient in any way, shape or form) the medical and scientific community advised (in 2021) that products consumed by children should not test positive for more than 4 parts per billion (4 ppb) Cadmium.
• Given the recommended “Action Level” of 5 ppb (the level at which Cadmium in foods is considered to be unsafe for children) – even when the Cadmium level in these Cocoa products is diluted by mixing the Cocoa with other likely Cadmium-free ingredients when these products are used for cooking or baking (like mixing with milk, butter, eggs, sugar, etc.), the Cadmium level of the finished product will still likely be higher than the recommended “Action Level” of 5 ppb – and so none of these products should be considered safe for consumption by young children or pregnant women. 

1. Navitas Unsweetened Organic Cacao Powder
2. Blueprint by Brian Johnson Cocoa Powder – Not Organic
3. 365 Whole Foods Market Organic Cocoa Powder
4. Now Real Food Organic Raw Cocoa Powder (not yet published / pending)
5. Holy Kakow Organic Cacao Powder

To see more chocolate products (and candies) that we have tested, please scroll down to the grid at the bottom of the page. Each image in the grid is a link to an article with the lab report for the product pictured.

Section #2) Some Additional Related Information:

• Here’s our overview article about the concern for heavy metal contamination of chocolate and chocolate products.
• This link is a list that has all of the Lab-Tested Safer Choices Identified with the Lead Safe Mama, LLC Community Collaborative Laboratory Testing Initiative to date.
• This link is our laboratory testing landing page which has all our published lab reports linked (organized by category)
• This is the link to our “Chocolate Candies” category of articles and lab reports
• This is a white chocolate product we tested (actual white chocolate, not the fake stuff) – that tested clean:  https://amzn.to/42YGqe3
  • Here’s the lab report for that white chocolate product
• This link is our “Candy Testing” Category, which has all types of candy lab reports — not just chocolate