Hershey’s In US Sued After Study Found Heavy Metals In Its Dark Chocolate

Some of Hershey’s products allegedly “contain unsafe levels of lead and cadmium,” according to a lawsuit filed in New York.

Some of Hershey’s chocolate products “contain unsafe levels of lead and cadmium,” according to the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in New York state. New York resident Christopher Lazazzaro filed the suit on December 28 in federal court on Long Island.

According to a report in The Guardian, the mass-market chocolatier is being sued for obtaining the license to manufacture Cadbury products in the United States in 1988.
The lawsuit claims Hershey “knew and could not have been unaware of the existence of lead and cadmium in the products” because of how the company tests its ingredients and makes its goods (according to the outlet).

The complaint, however, refers to findings published recently in the US magazine Consumer Reports (CR), which tested lead and cadmium levels in 28 dark chocolate bars. Twenty-three brands, including chocolate giants Lindt, Hershey, and Godiva, were found to contain “comparatively greater amounts” of the metals by the magazine’s count.

The report stated that if an adult consumed just one ounce (28 grams) of each of the 23 different bars every day, they would exceed a level that public health authorities and CR’s experts say may be harmful to at least one of those heavy metals.

According to the BBC, the lead content of Hershey’s Special Dark and Lily’s 70% bars was the highest, while the lead and cadmium content of Lily’s 85% bar was the highest.