Colombia’s New HXRF Test Finds Cadmium in Cocoa Without Breaking the Bean

Cocoa is one of Colombia’s proudest crops, but export markets can be strict about heavy metals. A new method from AGROSAVIA promises a faster way to check cadmium and other metals, without destroying the bean.

In Mosquera, Cundinamarca, a research team led by Ph.D. researcher Daniel Bravo validated a technique called monochromatic X-ray fluorescence, or HXRF, for cocoa testing under real quality and metrology standards.

For farmers and exporters, this is not lab drama. It is about knowing early if a lot will pass, and doing it in a way that is affordable enough to scale across regions.

Cadmium: the export headache

AGROSAVIA positioned cadmium as a key issue in cocoa because international permissible limits can be very low, putting pressure on producing regions to measure and manage risk precisely.

Cadmium does not show up like mold or a bad smell. It is invisible, and that is why testing matters, especially when a country wants stable access to demanding markets.

AGROSAVIA also framed cocoa as an “open thermodynamic system,” meaning many factors can influence cadmium content in beans, from soils and water to farming practices and post-harvest handling.

What HXRF does differently

AGROSAVIA said HXRF is nondestructive and noninvasive, yet highly sensitive, which means it can quantify cadmium and other elements without damaging the cocoa bean.

The standard comparison was against ICP-OES/MS, a widely used plasma-based method. AGROSAVIA said HXRF can be more cost-effective and more environmentally friendly, reducing the chemical footprint compared to traditional testing.

In simple terms, HXRF works by “reading” the elements through X-ray fluorescence signals, instead of dissolving samples and using reagent-heavy lab steps, which is where time, cost, and waste usually grow.

Testing across cocoa regions

AGROSAVIA said the study used a representative set of cocoa samples from different Colombian cocoa-producing departments.

The work placed special emphasis on Arauca, where field exploration included four municipalities: Arauquita, Fortul, Saravena, and Tame.

That regional focus matters because cacao is not one uniform story in Colombia. Different soils and conditions can mean different cadmium patterns, so a scalable method needs to work beyond a single farm or a single town.

From beans to bacteria

AGROSAVIA said HXRF was also explored for measuring cadmium in liquid Luria Bertani culture media, commonly used to study cadmium-tolerant bacteria connected to cocoa research.

This is a smart move because cadmium management is not only about testing the final bean. It is also about understanding the biology around the crop, including microbes that might help tolerate or reduce metal stress.

By testing both cocoa matrices and lab media, the team showed HXRF could support research and routine monitoring, not just one narrow use case.

The lab team behind the method

AGROSAVIA listed a multi-institution team, including analytical chemistry professional Edwin Cifuentes, lab coordinator and researcher Yeni Rodriguez, and Universidad Nacional de Colombia’s chemistry contributor Manuela Avellaneda, plus support staff at Tibaitata.

Cifuentes said the work strengthened collaboration between research networks and labs, and highlighted labs as key players in scientific projects, while positioning AGROSAVIA as a pioneer in more affordable analytical techniques for cadmium in plant matrices.

Rodriguez said HXRF, in parallel with ICP, could reduce analysis service costs while keeping sensitivity and precision, which is the balance that usually decides if a method becomes mainstream.

Why this matters for farmers, and beyond cocoa

AGROSAVIA said the technology could speed up measurements for cadmium and other heavy metals without losing sensitivity or precision, opening the door to standard procedures that make large-scale diagnosis more realistic.

They also said this approach could extend to other crops facing cadmium limits, naming avocado, rice, and gulupa as examples where low permissible limits raise the stakes for accurate testing.

The work was funded through the Cacao Arauca royalties project approved by Minciencias in 2019, plus an international STDF project aimed at managing cadmium levels in Latin American cocoa for EU export, and internal AGROSAVIA support.

A lab breakthrough with export impact

HXRF gives Colombia a practical tool for a real-world problem, detect cadmium quickly, keep costs under control, and avoid destroying samples during testing.

If this method spreads through standard lab workflows, it could make cocoa trade less risky for producers and exporters, and help research teams move faster on solutions that protect both livelihoods and reputation.