Trader Joe’s Defeats Dark Chocolate Heavy Metals Suit, for Now

Consumers suing Trader Joe’s over its alleged failure to disclose that its dark chocolate bars contained dangerous levels of heavy metals failed to adequately plead an unreasonable safety hazard, a federal judge said, dismissing their false advertising and fraud claims.

While the lawsuit sufficiently raised the prospect of consumers being misled, it didn’t identify a close enough connection between the alleged heavy metals and their harms, which sank their claims, the US District Court for the Southern District of California said Wednesday.

The consumers can’t merely say heavy metals can be unhealthy and the chocolate bars have some level of ...