Chocolate Has a Sustainability Problem. Science Thinks It Has Found a Solution

Elsewhere, Mars is looking to get to the root of the problem by improving the resilience of the all-important cacao plant. The food giant is working with the USDA and UC Davis to sequence pathogens that cause damage to crop yields, including black pod disease. It hopes that by understanding the problems at a much smaller scale, it can choose the strongest cacao trees and completely bypass the management of the industry head.

Nag points to other areas of development, focusing on improving the quality of new solutions. In particular, he suggests that pascalization may hold promise.

“Pascalization [also referred to as high-pressure processing—HPP] it involves applying high levels of hydrostatic pressure to cocoa products to solidify the cocoa particles and prevent the segregation of the cocoa powder,” he explains.

“This process preserves flavor and nutrients, extends shelf life, changes texture, and ensures food safety in cocoa and chocolate products without relying on heat or chemical preservatives. Although this method is still under investigation, it shows promise for improving the texture of chocolate products, especially in alternative processing methods.”

Despite the growing competition, Mishra is confident in the overall potential of the pod. However, his group is not the first to consider it, and both Nestle and Lindt & Sprüngli have made small inroads into similar markets, with varying degrees of success.

After launching its Incoa whole cocoa product in 2019, Nestlé quietly withdrew it from the market in 2023 after receiving disappointing reception from several European markets. Chocolate did not use the endocarp, and skipped the gel stage, but it promised the same good results to farmers. Elsewhere, Lindt & Sprüngli is apparently getting more appetite following the launch of its Cocoa Pure product in 2021; continues to offer a limited edition 100% cocoa bar, and in collaboration with Koa – but also uses only the pulp.

The spirit of the industry seems to be open to new ideas, but will the public accept this new chocolate, and will ETH Zurich’s unique chocolate-making method ever make it out of the lab?

“If I didn’t have a day job, I would open a company,” said Mishra. “But the real milestone for a startup to reach is for a chocolate company to take the risk of prototyping a product—a real product, not a product made by scientists. We scientists are really bad at making interesting things to cook, generally. I think that as soon as a major chocolate manufacturer sees it as the right way to go down, changes will begin.”