For most of modern Western history, cacao has been thought of as little more than chocolate confectionery (if it was thought of at all). Ultra-processed, artificially sweetened and consumed occasionally with very little thought given to where it comes from or what it actually contains.

That relationship is changing.

Its 2026 and cacao is now finally being understood for what it has always been in many meso-american traditional cultures: a whole plant food with a meaningful relationship to the nervous system, heart and brain health, and soul. Cacao is now being commonly consumed as a daily drink, used intentionally as a coffee alternative, and woven into ceremonial or reflective practices centred on wellbeing, self-development and connection. Understanding and use of ceremonial cacao in the UK is growing with each passing year.

This shift really matters.

When something moves from being an occasional treat to a regular ritual, the questions naturally change. What once felt casual now feels worth understanding more deeply. And so a reasonable question has emerged:

Is cacao actually safe for us to drink every day?

A lot of the conversation around heavy metals has been shaped by headlines and online discourse that don’t do a very good job at capturing the nuance. Clickbait titles and words like “contamination” and “toxicity” tend to travel faster than context, even though biology and ecology rarely operate in binaries. 

Heavy metals are not foreign substances invented by modern industry; they are naturally occurring elements present in the earth’s crust and, in trace amounts, across many whole foods.

This article is about breaking down the myths and misconceptions around heavy metals in cacao and re-establishing the grounded facts around 'Is cacao safe to drink every day'?

 

Why Are People Asking About Heavy Metals in Cacao?

All of these questions and clickbait articles aren’t arising in a vacuum.

Over the last decade, our collective trust in large-scale institutions and systems has eroded significantly. More people are becoming aware that industrial-scale food production does not always prioritise our long-term health, the environment, or transparency. In response, a growing movement towards food autonomy has emerged. Many of us are questioning where our food comes from, how it is grown, how it is processed, and what it actually contains.

Things that we used to take for granted one or two generations ago are now being examined more closely and challenged (often rightly so). There are too many examples to list where major food corporations have prioritised their own profit over our health. 

Whole foods that rise into the wellness zeitgeist are rarely spared from this scrutiny. In fact, they tend to attract more of it. When people invest time, money and intention into something they consume regularly, they want to be sure it is what it claims to be and that nothing is being obscured or overlooked. Authenticity and transparency have become core values in the world of nourishing whole foods. Cacao is no exception.

Don’t believe the social media hysteria

The conversation around heavy metals in cacao didn’t begin with cacao.

In recent years, there have been lots of online articles and reports focused on dark chocolate, highlighting the presence of lead and cadmium in certain mass-market products. While these reports were often legitimate and nuanced in their actual findings, much of that nuance was lost as the findings moved through headlines, social media, and algorithm-driven content.

See for yourself here

“Heavy metals found in chocolate” quickly became shorthand for something far more complex and the detail was forgotten about.

From there the question migrated almost inevitably to cacao and as usual people thinking cacao and dark chocolate are the same thing. 

But ceremonial cacao is not the same as mass-market chocolate. Sourcing, processing and production methods matter enormously. There is a huge difference between cacao grown at industrial scale for confectionery and cacao cultivated by small-scale, often family-run farms using long-standing land stewardship practices and regenerative approaches. Those distinctions rarely survive a headline or the unforgiving gravitational pull of the algorithms shaping our culture.

 

A Wider Issue of Trust, Not a Cacao-Specific Problem

It’s also really important to look at the broader cultural context.

We are all living in a time when trust in institutions and large-scale systems is eroding rapidly. The globalised industrial food system is often (and not without reason) one of the main targets of that scepticism.

Heavy metals, after all, are naturally occurring elements. They exist in trace amounts across many foods, and their potential to impact our health depends on dose, frequency, form and overall exposure. Again.. algorithm chasing by headlines tends to lose this nuance.

The rise in questions about heavy metals in cacao doesn’t mean cacao has suddenly become unsafe. Actually it’s a indication that more people are drinking ceremonial cacao in the UK and Europe more often, caring more deeply about their health, and questioning what they are being told rather than accepting it blindly.

Cacao isn't a Product. It's a Soil-Grown Organism

Cacao doesn’t start in a factory.
It starts in the soil.

That might sound obvious, but it’s a fact that some people overlook. In modern wellness culture, we hear cacao frequently being spoken about as a product, an ingredient, or a “superfood”.. Something bought, branded and consumed. Framed this way, it becomes easy to forget what cacao actually is.

Cacao is no more “just a drink” than you are “just a mammal.”

Cacao comes from Theobroma cacao, a perennial tree that grows slowly over decades, rooted in living soil and exchanging minerals with its environment throughout its entire life. Long before it becomes paste, powder or a warm cup, cacao exists as a living organism shaped by the land it grows in.

Cacao trees grow in complex forest systems, often under canopy, in mineral-rich soils supported by diverse microbial life. Beneath the surface, an intricate network of bacteria and fungi mediates the exchange between roots and soil. 

This exchange includes:

• Nutrients we value and recognise, such as magnesium, iron and zinc

• Trace elements that exist in soil simply because the earth is made of them

Cacao does not exist independently of this context. What it contains is inseparable from the soil, water, microbes and land management practices that surround it. There is no clean dividing line between the cacao tree and the ecosystem it grows in.

From this perspective, heavy metals are not foreign invaders introduced into an otherwise pure system. They are naturally occurring elements that have always been part of the earth and soil.

What “Heavy Metals” Actually Means

The phrase “heavy metals” tends to carry a lot of emotional weight, but at its core it is a technical term, not a moral one.

Broadly speaking, heavy metals are naturally occurring metallic elements that exist in the earth’s crust and do not break down over time. Because they persist, concern can arise around bioaccumulation in the body when exposure is elevated and chronic.

In the context of food (and cacao specifically) the conversation usually refers to a small group of elements:

• Lead

• Arsenic

• Mercury

• Chromium

These aren’t synthetic contaminants invented by industry. They are some of the original building blocks of the planet. Their presence alone does not equal harm.

When it comes to whether they have the potential to be harmful or toxic or not, this depends on a range of other factors too:

Dose — how much is present

Frequency — how often exposure occurs

Form — chemical state and bioavailability

Context — total exposure from all sources combined

Certain heavy metals CAN be harmful when our exposure to them is elevated, intake is chronic, and the body’s ability to regulate or excrete them is overwhelmed. Potential health concerns arises not from them existing but from their accumulation over long periods beyond the body’s capacity to deal with them.

 

Why Sourcing and Processing Matter More Than People Think

Sourcing and processing of the cacao you drink matters a lot more than you might think. 

Single-origin cacao sourced through long-term relationships allows for:

• Understanding soil conditions over time

• Visibility into farming practices

• Accountability when something changes

Healthy, biologically active soils can bind certain metals, reduce bioavailability and support balanced mineral uptake. Degraded soils can do the opposite. Sourcing is inseparable from land care.

Post-harvest handling matters too.

Fermentation develops flavour, reduces bitterness and initiates chemical changes in the bean. It does not add heavy metals, but it does require care, clean materials, controlled conditions and attention to timing and temperature. Drying and storage are equally important. Poor practices can introduce contaminants, encourage mould growth and compromise quality.

Ceremonial cacao is so valued because it is minimally processed, whole, close to its natural state. This preserves nutrients, flavour complexity and bioactive compounds often lost in industrial refinement. But it also means that whatever is present in the raw cacao remains present in the final product.

Lab Testing Alma Cacao

At its best, testing is not about reassurance or perfection.
It is about accountability.

When working with a whole food like cacao - minimally processed, concentrated and often consumed daily - testing allows us to be accountable and to answer the question:

After all our care and hard work, what actually reaches your cup?

We independently lab-test our cacao in the UK for this reason. Because after all of the time, work and commitment we have put in to ensuring we use cacao from a single origin, family-owned farm who steward the land with care and respect, we want to understand exactly what is in the cacao we offer you. 

It has always been a conscious decision for us to prioritise ethics and transparency over profits. That’s why we’re happy to pay a higher price for our cacao to know and trust that it comes from farms and farmers who steward their land with care and respect.

Independent laboratory testing can:

• Measure specific elements at extremely low levels

• Confirm whether results fall below detection thresholds

• Provide transparency about what is being assessed
  
  

This is why phrases like “below detectable limits” matter. They don’t mean “nothing exists anywhere.” They mean that if trace amounts are present at all, they are so low they cannot be reliably measured and sit well below levels of concern.

For us this conversation isn’t really about heavy metals.

Its about trust, transparency and the way we want to relate to the foods we put in our body.

Cacao, like all whole foods, carries the story of the land it comes from. Soil, water, climate and human hands all leave a trace.

From soil, to hands, to cup. The fact that lab-testing independently verified all of this is the just the cherry on top of the cake, not the cake itself.