Lawsuits Against Hershey Claim There is Lead in Dark Chocolate

A proposed class action lawsuit against The Hershey Company was recently filed in federal court in California. This is at least the second lawsuit brought against the company alleging some of the company’s dark chocolate products contain unsafe amounts of lead and cadmium.

Both lawsuits cite a Consumer Reports Magazine article from December that claimed that Hershey’s dark chocolate products had hazardous amounts of lead and cadmium in them. Consumer Reports examined 28 different chocolate products, including Hershey’s, and published its findings in a report titled “Lead and Cadmium Could Be in Your Dark Chocolate.”

The Plaintiff, Eva Grausz, claimed that she frequently bought “Lily’s Extremely Dark Chocolate” 85% Cocoa from Hershey, which tested at 143% of the state of California’s maximum acceptable dose level for lead and 101% of the maximum allowable dose for cadmium. Grausz also claimed no reasonable consumer would know or suspect that the products include these heavy metals.

According to the lawsuit, despite receiving certificates of merit from independent experts in 2017 alerting Hershey, along with numerous other manufacturers and distributors, to the presence of heavy metals in its dark chocolate products, Hershey neglected to warn consumers. Hershey knowingly concealed from consumers the knowledge that its chocolate contained high quantities of heavy metals.

Grausz claimed, had she known this information, she would have avoided any food she knew contained toxic ingredients. Heavy metals have been shown to increase risks of inhibited neurological function, anemia, kidney damage, seizures, coma, or death.

Grausz seeks to represent consumers who purchased and consumed Hershey dark chocolate products the four years prior to the fling of the lawsuit.

In another lawsuit, Plaintiff, Christopher Lazzaro, filed a putative class action lawsuit against Hershey in federal court in New York over claimed heavy metals in the company’s dark chocolate products using the Consumer Reports article in support of his claim. Lazzaro too alleged he would have refrained from buying and consuming the chocolate if Hershey had revealed the content of heavy metals in them.

To see if you qualify to join this suit, please contact an attorney who can more properly evaluate your case on an individual basis.