Hershey’s candy wrappers have dangerous ‘forever chemicals’ on them, lawsuit says
.png "The Hershey Company is accused of using candy wrappers that contain dangerous chemicals in a class action lawsuit.")
A class action lawsuit was filed against the Hershey Company accusing it of knowingly selling candy with dangerous chemicals on the wrappers.
The lawsuit was filed Oct. 29 in Pennsylvania federal court.
McClatchy News reached out to the Hershey Company for comment but did not immediately hear back.
The company is accused of selling some products with wrappers that contain “heightened levels of dangerous, unsafe organic fluorine and/or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS),” the lawsuit said.
PFAS are commonly known as “forever chemicals,” the lawsuit said. This is because the chemicals that fall under this classification are typically long lasting and tend to “break down very slowly over time,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
PFAS can be found in the blood of people and animals, due to low levels of the chemicals being present in the environment and in some foods, the EPA said.
“There are thousands of PFAS chemicals, and they are found in many different consumer, commercial, and industrial products,” according to the EPA.
However, in February, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned the use of PFAS in food packaging due to the chemicals being linked to “serious health effects,” the organization said.
But the lawsuit says independent testing found “alarmingly high levels of PFAS and fluorine” in the wrappers of some Hershey’s products, despite the FDA prohibiting it.
The products include Hershey’s Chocolate Bars, Hershey Cookies n’ Cream Bars, Hershey’s Kisses, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Reese’s Pieces, Almond Joys, Almond Joy/Mounds and Kit Kats, according to the lawsuit.
“As the third-party testing reported, the significant signal in the data is that many of the products seem highly contaminated, and from a toxicological standpoint Hershey’s products seem much worse than testing performed on competing products,” the lawsuit said.
The testing found levels vary from 10 mg/kg to as high as 81.5 mg/kg of total fluorine, the lawsuit said.
“Fluorine is a naturally occurring, widely distributed element and a member of the halogen family,” according to the National Library of Medicine. “Fluorine gas reacts with most organic and inorganic substances; with metals, it forms fluorides and with water, it forms hydrofluoric acid.”
The organization breaks down the relationship between fluorine and other chemical compounds, as well as health risks they pose.
“Neither before nor at the time of purchase does Hershey notify consumers like Plaintiff that the Confectionery Products are wrapped in unsafe and harmful wrappers that contain heightened levels of organic fluorine and/or PFAS,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit is asking for an undetermined amount in damages.
