Could Plant Scientists Breed Heavy Metal Contamination Out of Cacao?

Sep 10, 2026

By Jeff Mulhollem

Cadmium is a naturally occurring, toxic heavy metal found in many soils across Latin America and the Caribbean, where cacao trees are widely cultivated. It makes its way into cocoa seeds, called beans, that are roasted and made into chocolate, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) — but some cacao varieties take up less of the toxic element than others. An international team of researchers, including Penn State scientists, found genetic differences in how two varieties managed cadmium uptake and facilitated the metal’s movement throughout the plant.

The findings — published this week (Sept. 8) in Plant and Soil — may be an early step toward breeding cacao that accumulates less cadmium, according to the collaborators from Penn State and Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria–AGROSAVIA (the Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation).

While trace amounts of cadmium in chocolate don’t present a serious risk to public health, long-term exposure to too much cadmium can lead to bone fragility as well as kidney and lung damage, explained one of the study’s two senior authors, Siela Maximova, research professor of plant biotechnology in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Source : psu.edu

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