Untangling the nest of lies, misinformation, and greenwashing spewed by Ora Cacao

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A lot of Lead Safe Mama community members have asked me about this Ora Cacao chocolate brand, since the company’s public statements clearly state they have “No Heavy Metals.” I decided to take a bit of a deep dive today into the false statements, greenwashing, and misinformation that are so pervasive on their website and social media (in their marketing and branding). I started by watching a video of theirs and commenting on the post. You can see my comment in the screenshot below.







Published:
October 14, 2025 Instagram Post 

@cacaoceremony has blatantly false information on at least 9 pages of their website (scroll down to see those images on the website).

Images of those 9 pages w/ false statements will be shared in our next 9 Instagram posts (click through). Http://www.Instagram.com/LeadSafeMama

Each flavor of their product features a graphic with the words “No Heavy Metals,” however they also have TWO places where you can look up the heavy metals lab results for their products.

One source on their site is a graphic representation that is not dated and has lower levels than on their lab reports (as shared in our earlier Instagram post today, see the image above on the website with our pink and red annotations).

The second source on their website is a series of eight downloadable lab reports.

We compiled the results from those reports in the spreadsheet below.

This is blatant false advertising, the kind that regulators often contact us about, asking for more information so they can pursue actions on behalf of consumers (and fix the problem).

The quickest fix for @cacaoceremony would be removing all the false statements/ images from their website, and I hope this series of posts will encourage them to do so immediately.

Additional Key Points:
1.) The product-by-product levels of Cadmium on their undated graphic representation (shared earlier) are notably lower than what they share in the specific lab reports for most of the products. For example, the lab report for Mystical Mushroom shows 511 ppb Cadmium, while their graphic summary shows 352 ppb Cadmium.
2.) Ora Cacao misrepresents their Lead test results as being “negative” when they have simply not tested to a low enough threshold of detection to determine what the actual Lead levels for the products are.
3.) The only published lab reports we could find on their website are outdated (16 months or older, see our spreadsheet). Given the variation between the lab results and the other test results Ora Cacao shares, the company is undoubtedly aware of a significant range of Cadmium levels in their products (assuming the varying levels are from another round of testing).
4.) Ora Cacao is capitalizing on “lab testing” yet not testing at frequent enough intervals, which really does not matter in the end, as their own lab tests show their products as unsafe (at least not safe enough to be consumed by children, pregnant women, and/or women of childbearing age who may want to conceive).
5.) The company’s site uses heavy greenwashing tactics to dismiss the toxicity of its products.



Below are the nine images referenced above.

Each screenshot is of a page for the different cacao product flavors, including the image accompanying each flavor stating “No Heavy Metals” with a checkmark graphic next to it. You can see an instance of that highlighted at the top of this page.


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7 Comments

  1. Thank you so much for looking into this. Really appreciate it. Out of curiosity, how often should they test? Every batch ideally but what should we be looking for.

    Thanks for all your hard work. Really appreciate it.

    1. Every batch or at least annually – mostly given their whole greenwashing spin is focused on the fact that they test, so testing less often than annually is misleading – especially since they clearly have seen a range of test results and it is very possible for some batches to test quite high given the range they have already shared.

      T

  2. Thank you so much Tamara, when I see something that may be a ‘maybe’ I go to the expert. You don’t pull punches in exposing the facts and helping all your followers choose wisely for our health. Really appreciate you and your wonderful work.

  3. I was JUST freaking about to buy this and thought, maybe I should go check Tamara’s page and bam first thing I saw. I can’t believe this! Thank you for being on the level of truthfulness. People like you are once in a lifetime!!!!

  4. Wow thank you. Ceremonial cacao is becoming more and more popular….. I could not find any tests on Keith’s ceremonial cacao and I am now wondering. I believe this is the safest brand but would love to have a confirmation. Thank you!

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