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Products · Chocolate · The Conscious Bar

The Conscious Bar Smooth Dark Chocolate, 50 g bar

Reader ratings
The Conscious Bar Smooth Dark Chocolate, 50 g bar

Three organic ingredients and no added sugar, from a founder who wanted chocolate sweetened with dates. But we found no lead or cadmium result for any bar, and it costs about $5.70 an ounce. Listed at our editor’s request.

Best for People who want dates, not cane sugar, in their dark chocolate and accept that we found no metals result for it.

Our rating
Below average (2.8 of 5)
Price range
Premium
Verified marks
Certified Organic by Oregon Tilth, printed on the wrapper (we did not look up the certificate), Kosher, vegan, gluten free, non-GMO, per the maker
Size
50 g (1.76 oz) bar, one serving
Made in
Miami Beach, Florida company. Cacao is single origin from the Semuliki Forest in Uganda (through Latitude Trade Company) and Ecuador (through CECAO), per the maker; the bar’s page does not say which one is in this lot.

approx. $10 for a 50 g (1.76 oz) bar

See it on The Conscious Bar’s site → (opens in a new tab)

We are not affiliated with The Conscious Bar. This link goes to the maker’s own page, with no tracking code. How we're funded.

Also sold at Bar & Cocoa ($11), Fruitful Yield ($10) .

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    Reviews are personal experiences, not research, and they never change our quality ratings. Every review is read by our team before it appears.

    How we evaluated it

    How it scores Our rating, metric by metric Below average, 2.8 of 5
    1. Ingredients 25% of the rating 5 of 5

      Three organic ingredients, no added sugar and no emulsifier or flavor; the 10 g of sugar in a 50 g bar all comes from dates.

    2. Lead & cadmium 35% of the rating 1 of 5

      No lead or cadmium result from the maker or anyone else, on the site, the wrapper or any tester we searched; cacao and dates both carry these metals.

    3. Sourcing 15% of the rating 4 of 5

      Organic by Oregon Tilth, direct trade through named partners in Uganda and Ecuador; it is not Fair Trade certified and the lot’s origin is not on the bar.

    4. Trust 10% of the rating 3 of 5

      No Prop 65 notice, FDA recall or warning found, but health claims such as “actually good for you” go past the research and no lab result backs the sourcing claims.

    5. Value 15% of the rating 2 of 5

      About $5.70 an ounce for a 1.76 oz bar, among the dearest chocolate here.

    The rating, 2.8 of 5, is the weighted average of these scores. See how we rank chocolate and our standard.

    Where to buy Stores and the prices we saw 2 stores
    • Bar & Cocoa (opens in a new tab) approx. $11. A specialty chocolate shop. The listing could be added to the cart on 2026-11-06 and is $1 above the maker’s $10 price. It calls the bar 72%; the maker says only “minimum 70%”.
    • Fruitful Yield (opens in a new tab) approx. $10. A natural-foods shop. $10.09 for the 1.8 oz bar, in stock on 2026-11-06; its ingredient list matches the maker’s.

    Prices as we saw them on November 6, 2026. They change often. These links carry no tracking code and earn us nothing.

    What’s in it Every ingredient, in label order 3 ingredients
    1. Organic cacao beans
    2. Organic dates
    3. Organic cacao butter
    Who tested it What each test found, and who paid for it 1 test
    • Independent Searched for a lead and cadmium result on theconsciousbar.co, the Lead Safe Mama and Consumer Reports archives, and Prop 65 and FDA databases November 2026

      Nothing found. The maker’s FAQ, science and sourcing pages and the wrapper give no metals result, and the founder’s site does not name a lab. We did not contact the maker. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)

    Who paid, and why it matters
    • Independent The tester took no money from the maker for it: a consumer group, a journalist, a university or a regulator.
    • Paid certification An outside lab or certifier tested or listed it, and the maker paid for that.
    • Maker’s own test A lab report or certificate of analysis the maker commissioned and published.

    A certification is a floor, not a verdict: it checks what its program checks and nothing else. We weigh tests by someone with no stake in the result most.

    What people ask Worries raised online and elsewhere, and what we found 5 questions
    Does it contain lead and cadmium?
    Almost certainly some: Consumer Reports found both in all 28 dark bars it tested, and 23 went over a California limit at one ounce (Consumer Reports (opens in a new tab)). This bar has no published result, so we cannot say how much. A 50 g bar is 1.8 ounces, so one bar is nearly two servings against those limits.
    Is a Prop 65 notice on file?
    No notice names The Conscious Bar. We searched the California Attorney General’s 60-day notice list (opens in a new tab) for “Conscious” on 2026-11-05 and found only unrelated companies.
    Dates were behind a chocolate recall this year. Does it apply?
    Spring & Mulberry, another date-sweetened chocolate, recalled all 12 of its bars (opens in a new tab) in 2026 for possible Salmonella, which the FDA traced to one lot of date ingredient. The FDA’s enforcement database shows no recall for The Conscious Bar (searched 2026-11-05).
    Is date-sweetened chocolate lower in sugar?
    Not by much. The label shows 10 g of total sugars and 0 g added in the 50 g bar, with 8 g of fiber. The maker’s FAQ says 6 to 9 g per serving. Dates are still sugar, and our added sugar guide counts what you eat, not where it came from.
    Are the health claims true?
    Partly. Cocoa flavanols lower blood pressure a little in trials (our guide), but the wrapper and site say the bar is “actually good for you” and “a superfood”, which no study tested for this bar.
    Why we chose it What put it on our list 3 points
    • The ingredient list is as short as dark chocolate gets: organic cacao beans, organic dates and organic cacao butter, with no cane sugar, lecithin or flavor, per the label we read.
    • The cacao is traced to named partners: Latitude Trade Company in Uganda’s Semuliki Forest (a certified B Corp, per the maker) and CECAO in Ecuador (Organic and Fair Trade certified, per the maker).
    • The wrapper and stickers are plastic free and compostable, per the maker.
    Trade-offs What to weigh before you buy 5 points
    • We found no lead or cadmium result. Our standard puts 35 percent of the score on that, so this bar falls below 3.0 until a result appears.
    • At $10 for 1.76 oz it costs about $5.70 an ounce, against about $2.80 for Taza’s 70% bar.
    • The maker’s page gives no cacao percentage beyond “minimum 70%” and its stores disagree (72% or 75%). A 50 g bar is 260 calories.
    • It is made in a facility that handles milk, soy, wheat, peanuts and tree nuts, per the wrapper.
    • The flavored bars add nuts, coconut, tahini, espresso and orange oil. We looked at the plain Smooth Dark only.
    What to know Details worth knowing first

    The Conscious Bar is the shortest label we found in dark chocolate: organic cacao, organic dates and organic cacao butter. There is no cane sugar, no lecithin and no flavor, and the cacao comes through named partners in Uganda and Ecuador.

    What it lacks is the one thing our chocolate standard asks for first. We found no lead or cadmium result for it from anyone. Cacao takes up cadmium from soil and picks up lead as it dries, and Consumer Reports found both in all 28 dark bars it tested. Until the maker posts a lab report, we cannot say where this bar falls.

    That is why it scores 2.8 and is listed only because our editor asked for it. It is also dear, at about $5.70 an ounce. If a result appears and is low, the rest of the page would put it near the top of the category.

    What we checked Each claim, and how sure we are of it 5 checks
    How The Conscious Bar Smooth Dark Chocolate, 50 g bar measures up against our chocolate criteria
    What we checked What we found
    Lead and cadmium measured and published Not verified No result found for any Conscious Bar.
    A short list: cacao, a named sweetener, perhaps cocoa butter or vanilla Verified Organic cacao beans, organic dates, organic cacao butter.
    70 percent cacao or more, sugar per serving stated Maker’s claim Minimum 70% per the maker; 10 g total sugars, 0 g added, in the 50 g bar.
    Traceable cacao, organic, how farmers are paid Maker’s claim Uganda (Latitude Trade Company) and Ecuador (CECAO); direct trade, paid above Fair Trade minimums per the maker; Oregon Tilth organic on the wrapper.
    No Prop 65 notice or recall Verified None found 2026-11-05.
    What the labels mean
    • Verified We opened an independent record that confirms it: a certifier’s listing, a regulator’s list or a lab report. It is linked under Sources.
    • Maker’s claim The maker says so on its own page or label. We read it but found no independent record.
    • Not verified We looked and could not confirm it, or the maker does not say. Treat it as unknown.
    Sources Where our facts come from 8 sources
    1. The Conscious Bar: Smooth Dark Chocolate. Maker’s page. Ingredients, $10 price, 50 g weight; the nutrition label and Oregon Tilth mark are in the pack photos. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
    2. The Conscious Bar: FAQ. Maker’s page. 70% minimum cacao, 6 to 9 g sugar, direct trade, allergens. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
    3. The Conscious Bar: sourcing. Maker’s page. Latitude Trade Company (Uganda) and CECAO (Ecuador). Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
    4. Bar & Cocoa listing. Independent source. $11; could be added to the cart on 2026-11-06. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
    5. Fruitful Yield listing. Independent source. $10.09, in stock on 2026-11-06. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
    6. Consumer Reports: Lead and Cadmium Could Be in Your Dark Chocolate. Test report. 28 bars; metals in every one. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
    7. California Attorney General: Prop 65 60-day notice search. Certifier or regulator listing. No notice for The Conscious Bar, searched 2026-11-05. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
    8. FDA: Spring & Mulberry expands voluntary recall. Certifier or regulator listing. Salmonella in a date ingredient; no recall found for The Conscious Bar. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
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