US confectionery giant Hershey has said it is “confident” in its product labelling, despite facing a lawsuit in the US over antioxidant labelling claims made on its two of its products.
Claimant Leon Khasin filed the lawsuit earlier this year over claims Hershey “misled” consumers through labelling its Special Dark Cocoa and Special Dark Kisses products as providing a natural source of flavanol antioxidants.
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According to Court House News, the claimant said he would not have purchased the products in question “had he known the truth about these products and had they been properly labelled in compliance with the labelling regulations”.
Kashin alleges Hershey’s labelling “fails to meet the minimum nutritional requirement” for such claims to be made and that it violates several Californian laws.
A spokesperson for Hershey said: “We are confident that our product labelling and consumer materials about flavanol antioxidants are factual and supported by hundreds of scientific studies.
“The benefits of flavanol antioxidants are well-established and widely recognised amongst food scientists and the nutrition community. We believe it’s important to let consumers know about the abundance of scientific evidence supporting the benefits of flavanol antioxidants in cocoa and chocolate.”
