Hershey looking to remove lead, cadmium from chocolate
HERSHEY, Pennsylvania –
Hershey Co. is trying to scale back “trace” quantities of lead and cadmium in its chocolate, chief monetary officer Steve Voskiul informed Reuters on Wednesday, after Consumer Reports discovered that some darkish chocolate bars had probably dangerous ranges of the heavy metals.
Consumer Reports, a nonprofit shopper group, examined chocolate bars together with these made by Hershey late final yr and located that a few of them contained probably dangerous ranges of lead, cadmium or each for individuals who eat a couple of ounce per day.
The hint quantities of the metals present in some chocolate are “below any recommended level, any standard,” Voskuil mentioned, including that lead and cadmium are components in soil and may naturally happen within the product.
“Depending on where you source, you may get relatively more lead or cadium in West Africa versus South America, but in both cases it’s a naturally occurring ingredient,” Voskuil mentioned.
“We would love to eradicate it completely and continue to look for opportunities in the process, is there more we can do there,” he mentioned on the sidelines of the Reese’s makers’ investor day.
An organization spokesperson mentioned “given the natural occurrence of minerals, it’s difficult to completely eliminate them from agricultural ingredients.”
Consumer Reports discovered that Hershey’s Lily’s extraordinarily darkish chocolate 85% cocoa bar was excessive in lead and cadmium. Its Hershey’s Special Dark mildly candy chocolate and Lily’s additional darkish chocolate 70% had been additionally excessive in lead in keeping with the report.
Voskuil mentioned the manufacturing and cleansing course of for cocoa beans removes the “vast majority” of lead and cadmium.
Hershey is “evaluating” if it may take away extra of the metals by means of further cleansing of cocoa beans or alternate sourcing, he mentioned.
“Despite the cleaning process we’re also always looking, are there other things we can do to reduce it even lower,” Voskuil mentioned.
Hershey faces a number of lawsuits from shoppers who declare the chocolate maker ought to have disclosed the degrees of heavy metals, and that they’d have paid much less for or not purchased the merchandise had they recognized.
(Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in Hershey, Pennsylvania; further reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New YorkEditing by Marguerita Choy and Susan Fenton)
