A New York man sued Trader Joe's for multimillions over heavy metals in its dark chocolate bars.
Both actions follow Consumer Reports' discovery of unsafe lead and cadmium levels in 28 popular dark chocolate bars.
The consumer watchdog singled out Trader Joe's The Dark Chocolate Lover's Chocolate 85% Cacao and Dark Chocolate 72% Cacao for
elevated lead and hazardous metal levels. Both metals are dangerous, especially for pregnant women and children.
Consumer Reports tested both metals at California's maximum dose. In Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate 72% Cacao, 192% of the lead dose was allowed.
The watchdog's analysis ranked tainted products by lead level "because that heavy metal poses particular concerns and no amount of it is considered safe.
The worst offender was Hershey's Special Dark Mildly Sweet Chocolate, with 265% of the permitted lead.
Plaintiff Thomas Ferrante claimed in the suit that he bought Trader Joe's sweets after reading the labels and would have selected differently if he
knew about the toxins. "High levels of lead and cadmium in food products is material to reasonable consumers, because these chemicals