Give Me That Chocolate! Part II

Less than a month after Consumer Reports published their findings about higher-than-normal levels of heavy metals in a variety of dark chocolate bars produced by name brands, someone has filed a class-action lawsuit against The Hershey Company. Not to be confused with the completely unrelated Hershey Creamery Company, The Hershey Company is one of the most prominent candy bar manufacturers in the world.

Fun fact, in case you wanted to know, The Hershey Company and Hershey Creamery Company are completely unrelated. Both companies were started more than 100 years ago and named after separate men with the last name of Hershey. Circling back to the point of this post, the plaintiff of the lawsuit, a man based in New York, claims in his case that he would have avoided purchasing the potentially impacted Hershey products had the company revealed the information concerning the metal content in their products.

We noted before that long term exposure to heavy metals can cause major adverse health events, especially in children. We also noted what that exposure would have to look like in order to see said medical symptoms. Is the plaintiff in this case at risk? Only if this gentleman is eating way too much chocolate per day (every day) or is a young child or is a pregnant woman. The greatest impact would be seen in children and pregnant women as consistent, long-term exposure to heavy metals in children can result in problems with brain development. There are more details on effects and potential impact on the body in our previous blog post concerning this topic in case you're curious.

We didn't explicitly state this last time, but we will add this information in because it is relevant to the lawsuit. Consumer Reports used the state of California's maximum allowable dose for lead and cadmium and found that Hershey's Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate bar had 265% of the maximum allowable dose of lead. It may be worth knowing that in response to the study, the National Confectioners Association said that chocolate and cocoa are safe to eat and can be enjoyed as treats as they have been for centuries. It seems as though chocolate, like all things considered "fun," should be enjoyed in moderation.

Did The Hershey Company have anything to say about the Consumer Reports study or the lawsuit? In response to the study, The Hershey Company stated that they source their ingredients and manufacture their products in accordance with a "robust" food safety plan that is employed across all of their products. In terms of the lawsuit, The Hershey Company has yet to release a statement. It does not seem as though Hershey has been banned in the UK or EU yet, so maybe for now the lawsuit will not expand to other countries nor other companies, but only time will tell.

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