this post was submitted on 23 Apr 2025
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Tony's Chocolonely (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/42772420

Tony's Chocolonely is a Dutch chocolate manufacturer and seller. Created in 2005, the company's market share in the Netherlands was 18 percent in 2018.

In 2022, the Thomson Reuters Foundation awarded Tony's Chocolonely the Stop Slavery Award in the category "Goods and Services Companies". This award recognizes companies and organizations who have set a high standard for eradicating slavery, illegal child labor, and human trafficking from their supply chains.

Tony's Chocolonely was ranked second on the 2023 Chocolate Scorecard, which rates chocolate companies according to their human rights and environmental credentials: traceability and transparency, living income for cocoa farmers, child labour (absence of), deforestation & climate, agroforestry, and agrochemical management.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago (6 children)

Might want to find a different EU brand, Tony's sweets aren't just sweet from sugar. They're really high in lead. :P

https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

While I appreciate their response, I'd rather they implement a process safety management system. While cadmium and lead accumulate differently, lead accumulation can be fixed by covering the drying beans from lead dust, or moving them to areas where lead pollution isn't present. Cadmium tends to accumulate in older plants, and is pulled up from the soil. Planting newer trees, or changing the soil composition could limit the amount of cadmium present before it ever enters the supply chain.

Even if it does enter the supply chain, they could blend hazardous beans with cleaner beans to at least reduce the amount of exposure to heavy metals (of which no amount is truly safe.) You also get routine exposure through toothpaste and (potentially) drinking water, among other things.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

Looks like it's within eu's maximum (0.8mg rather than canada's 0.5mg presented there)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

Ahh, I knew it was stupid good.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (2 children)

As someone in the industry, I will say this is an issue with all chocolate manufacturing and it's getting worse. You should still avoid the brands in that list, but don't assume your favorite brand will continue to stay safe.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Yep, I'm trying to limit how much chocolate I eat, partially for this reason.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Is it a pollution issue from the farms?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

Almost all cocoa sourced by the big and medium manufacturers is grown in Africa. Many countries there still use leaded gas, and lead/cadmium mining is likely a big contributor. Some of it may be naturally occurring in the soil.

But it seems like cocoa is especially good at wicking up pollutants and storing them in the fruit.

[–] hellfire103 3 points 6 days ago

I mean, a bit of lead would probably be quite beneficial, based on the likelihood of thermonuclear war. /j