Lindt concedes its chocolate isn’t actually ‘expertly crafted with the finest ingredients’ amid a lawsuit
Lindt has admitted that its chocolate isn’t actually ‘expertly crafted with the finest ingredients.’
The Swiss chocolatier made the bombshell announcement in a bid to get the lawsuit against them dismissed, but the Eastern District of New York district court 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 on high amounts of lead found in its dark chocolate bars.
Now, lawyers for the popular brand have come forward and said that the iconic words printed on its chocolate bars, including ‘excellence’ and ‘expertly crafted with the finest ingredients,’ were ‘puffery.’
The Eastern District of New York district court said product puffery is ‘exaggerated advertising, blustering, and boasting upon which no reasonable buyer would rely.’
In a bid to have a lawsuit dismissed, Lindt has admitted that ts chocolate isn’t actually ‘expertly crafted with the finest ingredients’
In February 2023, a class action lawsuit was filed against the brand after the US consumer organization found high amounts of lead were found in its dark chocolate bars
The legal filing was triggered by a 2022 article published by Consumer Reports that detailed its findings after testing 28 chocolate bars sold across America.
The test concluded that a Lindt bar was among eight found to have high levels of cadmium – a chemical element that can lead to multiple health effects, including cancer.
Another one of Lindt’s chocolate bars was among 10 that had high levels of lead. Neither of the two tested the highest.
Customers from California, Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Nevada and New York soon took legal action on the back of the article, regarding the high level amounts.
Meanwhile, the tests also revealed that two of its bars, marked under the US brand Ghirardelli, were found to be ‘safer choices’ out of five tested, Fortune reported.
Although other company’s were found to sell lead-based chocolate bars – including organic brands – the lawsuit was launched because consumers grew frustrated that they paid more money for the brand that promised they there were ‘purchasing quality and safe dark chocolate.’
Lawyers for the popular brand have come forward and said that the iconic words printed on its chocolate bars, including ‘excellence’ and ‘expertly crafted with the finest ingredients,’ were ‘puffery’
The legal filing was triggered by a 2022 article published by Consumer Reports that detailed its findings after testing 28 chocolate bars sold across America. Two of them were Lindt dark chocolate bars
Despite Lindt making the ‘puffery argument’, the company clarified it was said as a ‘technical’ legal response, and not an admission of poor quality products, according to The Daily Gazette.
On Monday night, Lindt told AFP that the company ‘disagrees with all 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 to consume,’ it added.
Dark chocolate has long been touted as a healthier choice for people looking to satisfy their sweet tooth without spiking their blood-sugar, but what millions of people may not know is that they may also contain heavy metals linked to cancer.
Multiple tests performed by consumer watchdogs have discovered 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 has claimed 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 85 percent cacao classic blackout dark chocolate scored the lowest, at 13.
The highest-scoring product Johnson tested was Vosges’ 72 percent cacao black salt caramel 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’ve learned today is several things. One: marketing and packaging mean nothing. It does not matter what they say. It doesn’t matter what words they use, how pretty their pictures are. It does not matter.
‘Second: Not knowing is very dangerous… This is why it’s so important to know what you’re eating and to have quantified data on the cleanliness and on the positive benefits.’
