Trader Joe’s-Brand Dark Chocolate Bars Contain Dangerous Levels of Lead and Cadmium, Class Action Claims

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Two New York residents have filed proposed class action lawsuits accusing Trader Joe’s Company of failing to warn consumers that two of its dark chocolate bars contain dangerous levels of lead and cadmium.

According to the complaints, the company failed to alert consumers that the Trader Joe’s-brand Dark Chocolate 72% Cacao bar and The Dark Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate 85% Cacao bar had been found to contain “extremely high” levels of the heavy metals.

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The lawsuits charge that Trader Joe’s “concealment” of the dark chocolate bars’ potentially harmful contents shows a “reckless disregard” for the health of shoppers across the country.

Per the cases, because the products’ labeling and packaging do not indicate any kind of warning about the presence of dangerous heavy metals, reasonable consumers are led to believe the dark chocolate bars are “free from substances that would negatively affect children’s development as well as their own health.”

In December 2022, Consumer Reports published the results of an analysis of 28 dark chocolate products that show that Trader Joe’s The Dark Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate 85% Cacao bar registered “harmful quantities” of both lead and cadmium, the complaints explain. According to the filings, while the Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate 72% Cacao bar did not show high levels of cadmium, its lead content was at a dangerous level.

Based on California’s maximum allowable dose levels (MADLs) of lead and cadmium—0.5 microgram and 4.1 micrograms, respectively—the Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate 72% Cacao bar was found to contain 192 percent of the MADL of lead, the lawsuits relay. Similarly, the cases say, the Trader Joe’s The Dark Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate 85% Cacao bar contained 127 percent of lead’s MADL and 229 percent of cadmium’s in a one-ounce serving.

Exposure to heavy metals like lead and cadmium poses a serious threat to consumers as the substances can cause cancer, inhibit brain development in children and lead to other harmful health conditions, the complaints emphasize. Lead is associated with “inhibiting neurological function, anemia, kidney damage, seizures, and in extreme cases, coma and death,” one of the filings reads. The lawsuits also explain that cadmium, a cancer-causing substance found in cigarette smoke and used in things like batteries and paint, is similarly known to damage vital systems in the body.

According to the suits, Trader Joe’s failure to warn consumers about the toxic contents of its dark chocolate bars flies in the face of the company’s reputation for organic, healthy products.

One of the cases also claims Trader Joe’s had already been warned by a consumer advocacy group whose 2014 test results of the dark chocolate bars showed harmful levels of lead and cadmium.

The lawsuits look to represent anyone in the U.S. who purchased a Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate 72% Cacao bar and/or a Trader Joe’s The Dark Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate 85% Cacao bar during the applicable statute of limitations.

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