Hershey’s Chocolate Bars Contain Cancer-Causing Heavy Metals
If you’re a fan of Hershey’s chocolate, their CFO just made a great announcement! Hershey will begin removing toxic heavy metals found in their chocolate. This announcement comes after Consumer Reports tested their chocolate and found traces of heavy metals known to cause cancer and reproductive health problems when ingested.
Back in 2022 Consumer Reports unveiled that, “dark chocolate bars contain cadmium and lead—two heavy metals linked to a host of health problems in children and adults.” In an attempt to see which brands contained these heavy metals they tested 28 different chocolate brands. They found heavy metals in every single one.
Hershey’s dark chocolate bar ranked number one and contained the most amount of lead, 265 percent more than California’s maximum allowable dose level. Consumer Reports reiterates that “heavy metal poses particular concerns and no amount of it is considered safe.”
Consumer Reports focused on the dark chocolate bars made by Hershey’s at the end of 2022, sharing that they, “contained possibly harmful levels of lead, cadmium or both for people who eat more than one ounce per day,” per Reuters. The bar mentioned here weighs in at 1.45 ounces.
This announcement has led to a class action lawsuit against the Hershey company for their, “deceptive and misleading business practices” per plaintiffs. Plaintiffs argue that Hershey’s failed to disclose that their product contained lead and cadmium, and went on to list the harmful side effects of these products when ingested by humans.
The lawsuit states that children, specifically those under the age of 6 are prone to lead poisoning which can lead to developmental and health problems. Cadmium is potentially carcinogenic to humans and lead exposure can lead to, “high blood pressure and brain, kidney and reproductive health issues in adults,” per New York City’s health website.
Per Hershey CFO, Steve Voskiul, the reason cadmium and lead are even found in Hershey’s products is due to the metals being a naturally occurring mineral in agriculture that gets transferred into the product via cocoa beans.
