A man from New York has launched a multimillion-dollar federal lawsuit against Trader Joe's, alleging that their dark chocolate bars contain harmful heavy metals.
The Hershey Company is also being sued for similar claims about some of its dark chocolate products.
The consumer watchdog singled out Trader Joe's The Dark Chocolate Lover's Chocolate 85% Cacao for having high amounts of both dangerous metals, as well as
Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate 72% Cacao, which had high levels of lead. Both metals are hazardous to one's health, especially pregnant women and small children.
Consumer Reports' findings were based on the highest permitted exposure level for these metals in California.
It discovered that Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate 72% Cacao, for example, has 192% of the allowed dosage threshold for lead.
The allegedly poisoned items were categorised in order of lead level precisely because that heavy metal causes particular issues and no quantity of it is considered safe.
According to the research, Hershey's Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate was the greatest offender, containing 265% of the permissible limit of lead.
High levels of lead and cadmium in food goods are significant to reasonable consumers since these pollutants offer substantial health risks even at low doses.