Lindt has admitted that its chocolate is not actually “expertly made with the best ingredients.”
The Swiss chocolatier made the explosive announcement in an attempt to have the lawsuit against it dismissed, but the district court for the Eastern District of New York denied the attempt.
The luxury chocolate brand found itself in the middle of a class-action lawsuit in February 2023, after a US consumer organization reported high amounts of lead found in its dark chocolate bars.
Now, lawyers for the popular brand have come forward and said the iconic words printed on its chocolate bars, including “excellence” and “expertly made from the finest ingredients”, were “puffiness”.
The Eastern District Court of the District of New York said that product hype is “exaggerated advertising, bragging and boasting that no reasonable purchaser would rely on.”
In an attempt to dismiss the lawsuit, Lindt admitted that this chocolate is not actually “expertly made with the best ingredients.”
In February 2023, a class-action lawsuit was filed against the brand after the US consumer organization discovered that high amounts of lead were found in its dark chocolate bars.
The legal filing was prompted by a 2022 article published by Consumer Reports that detailed its findings after testing 28 chocolate bars sold across the United States.
The test concluded that one Lindt bar was among eight that had high levels of cadmium, a chemical element that can cause multiple health effects, including cancer.
Another of Lindt’s chocolate bars was among 10 that had high levels of lead. Neither of them got the highest score.
Customers in California, Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Nevada and New York soon took legal action on the back of the article, regarding the high amounts.
Meanwhile, tests also revealed that two of its bars, branded with the American brand Ghirardelli, turned out to be “safer options” of the five tested. Fortune reported.
Although other companies were found to be selling lead-based chocolate bars, including organic brands, the lawsuit was initiated because consumers became frustrated with paying more money for the brand that promised to “buy safe, quality dark chocolate.”
Lawyers for the popular brand have come forward and said the iconic words printed on its chocolate bars, including “excellence” and “expertly made from the finest ingredients”, were “inflated”.
The legal filing was prompted by a 2022 article published by Consumer Reports that detailed its findings after testing 28 chocolate bars sold across the United States. Two of them were Lindt dark chocolate bars.
Even though Lindt made the “overstated argument,” the company clarified that this was a “technical” legal response and not an admission of shoddy products, according to The Daily Gazette.
On Monday night, Lindt told AFP that the company “does not agree with all of the allegations made in the US lawsuit.”
“Our Lindt & Sprungli quality and safety procedures ensure that all products comply with all applicable safety standards and declaration requirements and are safe for consumption,” he added.
Dark chocolate has long been touted as a healthier option for people looking to satisfy their sweet tooth without spiking their blood sugar, but what millions of people may not know is that it can also contain heavy metals linked to cancer.
Multiple tests by consumer watchdogs have found high levels of cadmium and lead in chocolate products, which have been associated with kidney and bone disease, brain damage, miscarriages and tumor growth.
Brian Johnson, a 46-year-old biohacker who claims to have reversed his biological age by a decade, recently analyzed 10 popular dark chocolate bars to find the worst offenders.
Of the 10 products, Alter Eco’s Classic Opaque Dark Chocolate with 85 Percent Cocoa scored the lowest, 13.
The highest-scoring product Johnson tested was the Vosges Black Salt Caramel 72 Percent Cocoa Exotic Chocolate Bar, which had 159 mg of flavanols and just 2.0 mcg of heavy metals, giving it a score of 78.
Johnson said: ‘What we have learned today is several things. One: marketing and packaging mean nothing. It doesn’t matter what they say. It doesn’t matter what words they use, or how pretty their images are. It doesn’t matter.
‘Second: Not knowing is very dangerous… That’s why it’s so important to know what you’re eating and have quantified data about cleanliness and positive benefits.’