Chocolate Has a Sustainability Problem. Science Thinks It’s Found the Answer

Elsewhere, Mars is looking to get to the literal root of the problem by improving the resilience of the all-important cocoa plant. The food giant is working with the USDA and UC Davis to genome sequence pathogens for the diseases wreaking havoc on crop yields, including black pod disease. It hopes that by understanding the problems on a microscopic level, it can select resilient cacao trees and bypass the sector’s supply headaches altogether.

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

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

“This technique preserves flavors and nutrients, extends shelf life, modifies texture, and ensures food safety in cocoa and chocolate products without relying on heat or chemical preservatives. While this method is still under research, it shows promise for enhancing the texture of chocolate products, particularly in alternative formulations.”

Regardless of the growing competition, Mishra is confident in the full pod potential. However, his team isn’t the first to consider it, and both Nestle and Lindt & Sprüngli have made tentative inroads into similar markets, with varying degrees of success.

After launching its all-cocoa product Incoa in 2019, Nestlé quietly retracted it from the market in 2023 after it received a disappointing reception from a select few European markets. The chocolate did not use the endocarp, and skipped the gel-making stage, but had promised similar positive outcomes for farmers. Elsewhere, Lindt & Sprüngli apparently found more appetite following the launch of its Cocoa Pure product in 2021; it continues to offer the limited edition 100 percent cocoa bar, also in partnership with Koa—but also only using the pulp.

The industry spirit appears to be open to new ideas, then, but would the public embrace 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 daytime job, I would probably start a company,” says Mishra. “But the true milestone for implementation that has to be achieved is for a chocolate company to take the risk of prototyping a product—an actual product, not a product done by scientists. We scientists are really bad at making culinary delights, typically. I think as soon as a bigger chocolate manufacturer deems it a worthy path to go down, change will begin.”