Two store-brand dark chocolate products made by grocery chain Trader Joe’s have unsafe levels of potentially toxic heavy metals, according to a new pair of class-action lawsuits out of New York.
that “no safe blood lead level in children has been identified” and that even low levels have been found to impair “a child’s intelligence, ability to pay attention, and academic achievement.”In its test, Consumer Reports found that Trader Joe’s “Dark Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate 85% Cacao” contained 229 percent of California’s maximum allowable level of cadmium and 127 percent of the state’s threshold for lead.
Lead and cadmium have been difficult to rid from dark chocolate products because cacao plants can take in cadmium from the soil as they grow, while lead is found on the outer shell of the cacao bean post-harvest, according to Herb’s lawsuit. But it isn’t “inevitable,” that they would be present in dangerous levels, her filing says, since other dark chocolate brands were found to have levels that met safety standards.
Ferrante’s lawsuit claims that Trader Joe’s must have known about the chemicals and deliberately failed to disclose them. The grocery chain tests its products for safety and also receives documents from the suppliers of ingredients it uses about the chemical levels in those products — information that consumers have no way of knowing.“These documents and their own testing alerted Defendants to the present [sic] of harmful chemicals, such as lead and cadmium,” the filing states.
Both lawsuits contend the grocery chain violated New York laws banning deceptive practices, false advertisement and unjust enrichment, and seek unspecified compensation and punitive damages. Ferrante’s also seeks damages that could total hundreds of dollars per sale, while Herb’s asks that Trader Joe’s be barred from selling the products until they are “accurately labeled.”
Herb’s attorneys filed a similar lawsuit last month against Hershey, which makes another of the chocolate bars that were flagged in the Consumer Reports testing. Hershey’s “Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate” was found to have 265 percent of California’s maximum allowable dose of lead.
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