Identification of a cost effective method to assess bio available cadmium in cocoa

What is it about?

Remediation of cadmium-contaminated soils to reduce cadmium uptake is intended to reduce the metal’s bioavailability to cacao plants, using a variety of measures. However, a reliable measure of the bioavailability of cadmium in soils is required to identify a suitable method of measurement, which correlates well with cacao tissues. For this purpose, five extractants, commonly used to estimate the bioavailability of heavy metals in soils to plants, were evaluated in this study. These were calcium chloride, ammonium nitrate, diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA), ammonium bicarbonate-DTPA (AB-DTPA) and ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA). EDTA, DTPA and AB-DTPA were found effective for use in the development of cost effective preventive soil treatments to reduce bioavailable Cd to cacao plants in Trinidad, West Indies.

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Why is it important?

Recent concerns of cadmium contamination in chocolates have resulted in increasingly stringent food safety regulations on the maximum permissible levels (MPL) for cadmium by the European Union. These regulations will become mandatory in January 2019. The origin of cadmium in chocolates has been identified as cadmium-contaminated soils, from which cacao plants absorb the metal and deposit it in its tissues, including the beans. To ensure that the marketability of cocoa beans is not adversely affected by the imposition of the EU regulations governing the MPL of cadmium in cocoa, measures such as these are critical for assessing and remediating, where necessary, cocoa soils.

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