Mexico NOM-186-SSA1/SCFI-2013 - cacao and chocolate contaminant reference levels

The instrument

This page records the heavy-metal maximum levels set by Mexico NOM-186-SSA1/SCFI-2013 - cacao and chocolate contaminant reference levels, the instrument of COFEPRIS and Secretaria de Economia, 2014. Every value below is transcribed into the Heavy Metal Index register from the primary text and is the value an HMTc standard cites when this jurisdiction binds a certification limit. It is a record of law, not an HMTc threshold.

Transcribed into the Heavy Metal Index regulatory register from the primary text published by COFEPRIS and Secretaria de Economia; a direct primary-source URL is not tracked for this instrument.

Maximum levels

All values µg/kg (ppb), in the basis the instrument states. 10 maximum levels across 2 analytes and 6 product categories, grouped by analyte and ordered by limit.

Limit µg/kg	Basis	Product scope	Provision
Lead (Pb)6 limits
100	product as sold	Cocoa butter	NOM-186 Table A.1 informative appendix.
1000	product as sold	Cacao	NOM-186 Table A.1 informative appendix.
1000	product as sold	Chocolate and similar products	NOM-186 Table A.1 informative appendix.
1000	product as sold	Cocoa	NOM-186 Table A.1 informative appendix.
1000	product as sold	Cocoa and sugar mixtures; chocolate powder	NOM-186 Table A.1 informative appendix.
1000	product as sold	Cocoa paste and/or cocoa cake	NOM-186 Table A.1 informative appendix.
Total arsenic (tAs)4 limits
500	product as sold	Chocolate and similar products	NOM-186 Table A.1 informative appendix
500	product as sold	Cocoa butter	NOM-186 Table A.1 informative appendix
1000	product as sold	Cacao	NOM-186 Table A.1 informative appendix
1000	product as sold	Cocoa	NOM-186 Table A.1 informative appendix

Where HMTc cites it

Cells where this instrument holds the strictest government value in force among credible regulators, and therefore binds a published HMTc limit.

No published standard is bound by this instrument yet

A limit recorded above binds nothing today only because another government holds a stricter value for every published cell. It may still bind later, as other jurisdictions relax or as a new subcategory is published.

How this interacts with HMTc

HMTc certification standards adopt the strictest existing maximum level set by any credible government, applied cell-by-cell. Where this instrument holds the strictest value for a (product, analyte) cell, it binds the HMTc limit and the standard cites this page. This page does not set or justify any HMTc threshold; it records the sovereign requirement the program measures against.

A reference page is a record of law, not an HMTc threshold. It states what a government requires; the standard page states what the program requires, and names which instrument binds each cell.