Cadmium is a transition metal that has proven to be very damaging to the human body, as it is source of respiratory, renal and bone diseases. Mining and industrial waste that end up in peruvian rivers contain lethal amounts of this metal, and because local cacao farmers irrigate their cacao trees with this water, the plantation gets contaminated.
In order to prevent health issues on the citizens, the European Union has established stricter regulations on the concentrations of Cadmium admissible in cacao products.
These are the new standards according to the concentration of cacao in a product:
-For ≤ 30% of cacao; 0,1 mg/kg.
-For ≥ 30% ≤ 50% of cacao; 0,3 mg/kg.
-For ≥ 50% of cacao, 0,8 mg/kg.
In 2018, more than half of peruvian cacao-based products were sold to European countries. The prohibition of entry of many of these products to Europe resulted in a fall for the global demand of peruvian cacao, reflecting a revenue reduction from $3200 per ton of cacao in 2018 to only $2200 per ton in 2019.
This new pricing for cacao producers barely meets the cost for the production of this plant, which affects the 30,000 Peruvian minimum-wage workers that depend exclusively on this industry.
To detect Cadmium-contaminated soil in advance, our team has developed a cell-free system that detects different concentrations of cadmium by turning into different shades of red; the more cadmium available, the stronger the red color will be, and viseversa. This way, farmers can avoid growing cacao plants in contaminated soil, preventing big losses to their businesses.