Hershey wants to eradicate heavy metals from chocolate, exec says

The Hershey Co. is looking to reduce “trace” amounts of lead and cadmium in its chocolate, the global confectioner’s chief financial officer told Reuters this week.

Steve Voskiul made the remarks after a December 2022 report by Consumer Reports found that some dark chocolate bars had potentially harmful levels of the heavy metals.

As a result, Hershey has been sued by consumers who claim the chocolate maker should have disclosed the levels of heavy metals, and that they would have paid less for or not bought the products had they known.

Consumer Reports tested chocolate bars made by Hershey and others and found that some of them contained possibly harmful levels of lead, cadmium or both for people who eat more than one ounce per day.

The nonprofit consumer organization found that Hershey’s Lily’s extremely dark chocolate 85% cocoa bar was high in lead and cadmium, while Hershey’s Special Dark mildly sweet chocolate and Lily’s extra dark chocolate 70% were high in lead.

The trace amounts of the metals found in some chocolate are “below any recommended level, any standard,” Voskuil told Reuters, adding that lead and cadmium can naturally occur in a product because they’re soil elements.

Hershey would love to eradicate the heavy metals completely, he said.

The manufacturing and cleaning process for cocoa beans removes the “vast majority” of lead and cadmium, Voskuil said.

Hershey is “evaluating” if it can remove more of the metals through additional cleaning of cocoa beans or alternate sourcing, he said. “… We’re also always looking, are there other things we can do to reduce it even lower.”

Paula Wolf is a freelance writer