And one day you'll care how other people feel inside

[sovay]

I suppose I got about an hour this evening between receiving the all-clear from my new neurologist on the consumption of chocolate and discovering the recent report on lead and cadmium in dark chocolate, which was extremely upsetting. I had spent part of this weekend with my mother rolling our traditional fudge for Christmas. I was able to reassure her that the baker's chocolate she uses for the recipe rated safely in the expert study, but I continue to feel that chocolate is not supposed to contain heavy metals. It's difficult enough when it's full of shredded coconut or nuts. Actually it upsets me viscerally when food is not safe, the way that feels like cheating or cruelty; it is one of the things that should not happen. It's being a rough week and nothing feels safe and you should be able to treat people without poisoning them.

Comments

[rosefox]

Thanks for the link. I've accepted a certain amount of risk around this; I haven't stopped eating rice, dried oregano, or dried thyme, or feeding them to my kid, whose annual lead tests have never turned up anything concerning. But it's tiring to have to think about it.

[sovay]

But it's tiring to have to think about it.

It is! And I had similar information about other foodstuffs, but not chocolate, and then I felt like I shouldn't have been surprised by it, which didn't help with being upset. I am glad your child remains lead-free.

[ethelmay]

I think I had to ask for my kids to be tested for lead, and that it only happened once (youngest is 24). When did annual lead testing start being a thing, or does it depend on HMO or geographic area or something?

[rosefox]

Not sure about when, but I'm in NYC and it's standard here.