Chocolate maker Hershey’s has been accused of failing to disclose to US consumers the amount of lead and cadmium in some of its products. The lead plaintiff seeks a class action lawsuit.
The great chocolate company Hershey’s has been sued in USA for allegedly not disclosing the high levels of metals contained in some of its products, in particular three types of dark chocolate bars.
Christopher Lazazzaro, who presented his arguments last Wednesday before a federal court in New York and hopes the lawsuit becomes class actioncharged that some of the company’s chocolates “contain dangerous levels of lead and cadmium.”
“Elevated levels of lead and cadmium in food products are important to reasonable consumers, because these chemicals pose a serious health risk, even in small doses,” the allegation reads.
Lawsuit once morest Hersheys’s occurs following a study with a Californian standard
The lawsuit comes just two weeks following the magazine Consumer Reports published an article claiming that Hershey’s dark chocolate products exceeded lead and cadmium levels allowed in California, considered one of the standard states “more protective”.
Specifically, the study charged that the Hershey’s Special Dark bar and the Lily’s bar (also owned by Hershey’s since June 2022) 70% were high in lead, while the Lily’s bar 85% it had a high content of lead and cadmium.
However, there is no federal limit for the inclusion of metals like lead and cadmium in most foods, but California has a much more restrictive standard on this issue.
A lawsuit once morest Hershey’s focused on deceptive
Lazazzaro accuses that, before the report, consumers they had no other independent way of knowing how much lead and cadmium are in Hershey’s products before they buy them, and mistakenly assume that the manufacturer is being “truthful regarding ingredients”.
Although high levels of lead and cadmium in food might be dangerous to health and cause anemia or weaknessthe lawsuit does not appeal to a possible poisoning, but rather to alleged marketing irregularities, misleading or insufficient information in the chocolate wrappers.
Finally, Lazazzaro seeks at least 5 million dollars in damages caused by Hershey’s. Until now, the chocolate company has not spoken regarding it.
