Skip to content
Search
AI Powered
Latest Stories

Lindt disputes US lawsuit claims, stands by 'excellence' labelling

Lindt LINDOR

Top Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Sprungli is disputing claims brought by US consumers in a class action lawsuit concerning the levels of heavy metals found in its chocolate bars.

Lindt has unsuccessfully attempted to end a class action lawsuit in the US, launched in February 2023, following an article by a US consumer association questioning the presence of heavy metals in dark chocolate bars from several manufacturers, including two bars produced by Lindt.


"Lindt & Sprungli disagrees with all the allegations made in the US lawsuit," the firm told AFP in a statement late on Monday night.

"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.

Consumers in the US states of Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Nevada and New York had taken legal action on the back of a 2022 article by the US consumer organisation Consumer Reports, concerning the levels of lead and cadmium in dark chocolate bars.

The organisation tested 28 bars sold in the US. One of the Lindt bars was among eight found to have a high level of cadmium, while another was among 10 with a high level of lead, though neither had the highest levels.

Two of its bars, marketed under the US brand Ghirardelli, were among the five classified as "safer choices".

While bars from other manufacturers had higher concentrations of heavy metals - including organic brands - consumers insisted in the class action lawsuit that they had paid premium prices for Lindt because they believed they were "purchasing quality and safe dark chocolate".

They accused Lindt of having violated the labelling rules in force in their states.

The Eastern District of New York district court denied Lindt's motion to have the lawsuit dismissed.

'Puffery' argument

The chocolatier's lawyers maintained that the words printed on its packaging - "excellence" and "expertly crafted with the finest ingredients" - were unactionable "puffery".

The court decision outlined product puffery as "exaggerated advertising, blustering, and boasting upon which no reasonable buyer would rely".

The line of defence startled some newspapers in a country highly attached to the prestige image of its goods, with Switzerland's NZZ am Sonntag weekly saying Lindt's strategy had "dismantled its own promises of quality".

Lindt, however, stressed that the use of a "puffery argument" was a "technical" legal response before a US court and not an admission of inferior quality products.

That argument, Lindt told AFP in a statement, was merely "used to clarify that an advertising challenged by plaintiffs is not sufficiently objective to support the specific false advertising claim being made".

But nonetheless, it insisted that it stood by its claims of "excellence" and products "expertly crafted with the finest ingredients".

"Our consumers can have full confidence in that," said Lindt.

(AFP)

More for you

Walkers Chocolates switches to new kerbside recyclable paper wrapper

Walkers Chocolates switches to new kerbside recyclable paper wrapper

Walkers Chocolates said it is switching its popular own brand Turkish Delight and Mint Cream chocolate bars into EvoPak RCM, a 100% recyclable paper wrapper.

The bars will begin rolling out to selected Premier and Asda stores this month.

Keep ReadingShow less
2_sisters_food_group_logo.jpg
2 Sisters Food Group
2 Sisters Food Group

Budget’s raid on businesses will drive food inflation, says Boparan

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ budget has served up an unexpected "double whammy" bombshell for businesses that risks driving food inflation further, delivering a potential “final fatal blow” for the beleaguered farming sector in the UK, leading food entrepreneur Ranjit Singh Boparan said on Tuesday (12).

Boparan relies on a network of hundreds of independent, family-owned farms for the supply of poultry into the UK retail and food service sector and the Budget’s inheritance tax raid on farms over £1m risk that supply being severely compromised. Under plans announced in the Budget, inheritance tax will be charged at 20 per cent on farms worth more than £1m.

Keep ReadingShow less
Food Foundation report condemns UK diet
iStock - fcafotodigital

Food Foundation report condemns UK diet

The Food Foundation’s annual State of the Nation’s Food Industry report, published today, has found that:

  • Just 5 companies (Haribo, Mars, Mondelez, PepsiCo, Kellog’s) are responsible for over 80 per cent of TV ads for snacks and confectionary aired before the watershed, despite all of them claiming not to advertise to children
  • Almost a third (30 per cent) of major UK restaurant chains serve main meals where over half of the options are concerningly high in salt
  • Almost one in five supermarket multibuy offers are on meat and dairy products, with half of these offers on processed meat (10.6 per cent of all offers) despite the known health risks of consuming too much processed meat
  • Only one in four major UK food businesses has a healthy sales target and discloses data on the healthiness of their sales
  • Restaurant chains and fast-food outlets are the least transparent sector by some way, having made no progress since last year in disclosing healthy sales data or setting targets to improve the healthiness of menus
  • Global food giants Mondelez, Mars and Coca-Cola still have no clear explicit board-level accountability for nutrition
  • Food industry representatives and their trade associations met with Defra ministers a total of 1,377 times between 2020 and 2023. This is over 40 times more meetings than those held between food NGOs and Defra ministers

The report, published annually by The Food Foundation, analyses data across an array of sources to build up a revealing picture of the UK’s food system. The findings show that currently the food environment, from the food being advertised to us, to the food that dominates menus when we eat out, to the price promotions being offered to us in supermarkets, is relentlessly pushing consumers to make unhealthy choices.

Keep ReadingShow less
 Ben and Jerry's ice cream

Ben and Jerry's ice cream

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Ben & Jerry's says parent Unilever silenced it over Gaza stance

Ice cream brand Ben & Jerry's said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that parent company Unilever has silenced its attempts to express support for Palestinian refugees, and threatened to dismantle its board and sue its members over the issue.

The lawsuit is the latest sign of the long-simmering tensions between Ben & Jerry's and consumer products maker Unilever. A rift erupted between the two in 2021 after Ben & Jerry's said it would stop selling its products in the Israeli-occupied West Bank because it was inconsistent with its values, a move that led some investors to divest Unilever shares.

Keep ReadingShow less
Quality of local produce celebrated at Scotland’s Speciality Food & Drink Show

Quality of local produce celebrated at Scotland’s Speciality Food & Drink Show

Following a successful summer season for tourism in Scotland, its fine food and drink outlets are ready to refresh and re-stock and where better than Scotland’s Speciality Food & Drink Show? Held at the SEC, Glasgow from 19-21 Jan 2025, this is the event where quality, innovation and flavour are celebrated.

With stands filling up fast, artisan and mainstream producers are wanting a slice of the sales that will come as delis, farm shops, tourist outlets, cafés and restaurants come to taste, see and enjoy the best of Scottish food and drink. Premium Scottish produce is renowned the world over for its quality and provenance, and this Show will display some of the most unusual and best on offer.

Keep ReadingShow less