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FACT BRIEF

Are pieces of cockroaches found in 'every batch' of chocolate and chocolate liquor?

By Marlo Lee
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NO

Contrary to a social media post's claim of "ground-up cockroach parts found in every batch" of chocolate, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says cockroaches, in part or in whole, are not in chocolate.

While FDA standards do allow up to 60 insect "fragments" per 100 grams of chocolate or chocolate liquor, an FDA spokesperson told Lead Stories those would be from insects found in and around the cocoa bean plants used for chocolate production.

Since cockroaches would far more likely be found in an unclean processing plant — not in the outdoor cultivation and harvesting area — that would indicate measures aren't being taken to keep a plant clean.

"Because of that, there's no allowable level of cockroaches in food products, and that includes cocoa," the FDA spokesperson said.

See a full discussion of this at Lead Stories
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Food and Drug Administration Food Defect Levels Handbook
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Lead Stories
Lead Stories is a fact checking and debunking website at the intersection of big data and journalism that launched in 2015. It scouts for trending stories, images, videos and posts that contain false information in order to fact check them as quickly as possible. It actively monitors the fake-news ecosystem and doesn’t wait for reader tips or reports before getting started on a story.
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About fact briefs published on Gigafact
Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.