California Sues Food Retailers For Selling Lead-Tainted Foods Without Warning Labels

The State of California has filed a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court alleging that Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and other food retailers are selling ginger and plum candies contaminated with lead and carrying no warning labels. The state attorney general’s office said lab tests verified the presence of lead in the products in violation of Proposition 65. Even minute amounts of lead and other potentially harmful ingredients in food products must be disclosed to the public. A Whole Foods spokesman said the company was investigating the problem, but there was no comment from Trader Joe’s.