Lead Safe Mama


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Here’s the #BS GREENWASHING response that HU Chocolate is sharing with concerned customers. I will post my response to this shortly.

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Friday – December 16, 2022

Intro: The image above is what I posted on social media tonight. This was in response to hearing from five separate Lead Safe Mama readers with the “canned” response they received from HU Chocolate (below – in full) in response to when they were in touch with HU about concerns for Lead and Cadmium in their chocolate – as demonstrated by the Consumer Reports piece published yesterday (link to the Consumer Reports article, link to my overview post about Chocolate – which I wrote in 2013).

I will be posting my response to this shortly, however I wanted to make sure everyone saw (and read with wonder and amazement) this extremely well crafted piece of greenwashing bullshit. This NOT a good look on you HU. You really need to fire your marketing / P.R. people for this insane (disrespectful, dismissive, defensive, misleading) statement you published. My upcoming response will take their statement (below) apart point by point. Stand by – it’s late on a Friday night (9:30 now!), I have kids (and no childcare) but I will do my best to draft my response to this ASAP.

The email HU is sending to customers who are inquiring with concerns.

Hi! Thank you for reaching out. You have nothing to be concerned about. We saw the Consumer Reports article and think it is sensationalism on a topic that stokes fear where we think there should be none.
The measurement levels and school of thought on the article’s reporting come from the same “California Proposition 65” requirements that once required California coffee shops to put cancer warnings on their coffee.
The heavy metal levels (which the chocolates in the article were tested against) are magnitudes lower than target levels established by International Regulators and the FDA. Dark chocolates with a high cocoa percentage tend to have trace amounts of naturally-occurring heavy metals in them due to the soil in which the beans are grown. In fact, the article quotes a California organization called “As You Sow”, but the article fails to mention the fact that As You Sow has acknowledged in a large Court settlement that chocolate contains certain naturally-occurring acceptable levels of lead and cadmium. The article itself also highlights its own lack of context, saying that “[heavy metals] can be found in many other foods—such as sweet potatoes, spinach, and carrots.”
Hu chocolate is safe to eat, and Hu meets federal standards with respect to lead and cadmium. The metals levels cited in this article are not shown in aggregate, and the article does not properly take into account consumption frequency. So, the article is quite deceiving to evoke consumer worry. Moreover, the way the results are reported (in percentages) can easily be taken out of context, because the actual levels of naturally-occurring heavy metals fall in the microgram range (i.e. 1 microgram is equivalent to .000001 grams).
We hope this helps, and we certainly appreciate your concern and appreciate your reaching out to us! – The Hu Team
Thank You,
Zack
Hu Kitchen Support

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Josephine says

    Ack, seriously!!! WTF. That’s totally greenwashing all the way. As far as I know Consumer Reports is not to be dismissed. What a poor response. We the concerned, are serious! Seems like lots of Moms and Grandmas and outliers like me, really care about kids and people’s health in general. Hu needs to do better. ( I hate chocolate and dark chocolate in particular, and rarely eat it, but darn some stunning results. My vice is/was spinach, so I feel the pain). I will never buy Hu.

    Reply

  2. Dark chocolate lover 76 says

    Disrespectful response by HU indeed! Why would I buy Hu when I can buy Mast, Taza, or even a few of the Ghirardelli options listed in the report?

    Reply

  3. A. says

    I had just bought a bunch and have been pondering on the severity of these levels and wondering about Hu’s position on the issue. But with this defensive and cheeky reply, I am going to return them all and move to Mast. Since this is their main line of business they should at least state look further into it and look for ways to self-test and try to improve on the levels of these chemicals. Too bad.

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  5. Huge Toughguy says

    Your complete and total focus on lead shows that you are a government agency or shill. Stop being pathetic and banning everything via FALSE and CRIMINAL health and safety LIES, you trash loser(s). Chocolate is fine, but I notice that you gloss over the real culprit of heavy metals in children, which is Chinese manufacturing and dependence on China. So you shill this complete BS and call clear FACT “greenwashing” (whatever that stupid nonsense is supposed to mean). All you do is show chaos and spread confusion about clear subjects. You are completely worthless.

    Reply

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