Cadbury taste testers treated like expendable guinea pigs

Taste testers at Cadbury Adams, the U.S. subsidiary of candy maker Cadbury, have sued the company after suffering lesions on their tongues, chemical burns and a profoundly distorted sense of taste.

Cadbury Adams taste testers were seriously injured by an unsafe sweetener.

The three New Jersey women were paid $10 an hour by Cadbury. They were injured on the job after they test-tasted an experimental high-intensity sweetener the company was developing.

The mystery sweetener was not approved for public use in the United States. The injured workers were trainees rather than experienced Cadbury taste testers. They were unaware that something was amiss when they were not given copies of the documents they were asked to sign.

The company has refused to give the injured workers any information about the toxic substance they were told to ingest as a part of their low-wage jobs. The capitalist corporation considers its “trade secrets” more important than the well-being of workers who may be permanently injured.

Maureen Zuccarini, a resident of Parsipanny, New Jersey, was given a chewing gum that contained the new compound. On the second day chewing the gum with the compound, eight pustules developed on her tongue. She suffered reactions under her tongue and on her lower right cheek according to a lawsuit she filed with co-workers Donna Magliaro and Stefanie Bonfiglio.

Attorney Robyne LaGrotta filed three lawsuits against Cadbury Adams and Spherion Atlantic Enterprises, the company that hired the woman to work for Cadbury.

More than 1,000 people had answered a newspaper advertisement announcing the job; only 12 were hired. According to the lawsuit, Maura Titone, a Cadbury employee, told the workers before they ingested the sweetener that it had not been approved for use in the United States. She falsely asserted that the sweetener was safe.

When Magliaro tasted an intense spearmint gum that contained the new sweetener she said her tongue felt like it was on fire. The company responded by having her visit a dentist, but sent her back to work as a taste tester before the dentist had cleared her to return.

She was fired in April when she started asking more experienced Cadbury tasters if they had been asked to taste experimental compounds or to sign documents. Zuccarini and Bonfiglio quit working at Cadbury a week after Magliaro was fired.

Zuccarini continues to suffer from a metallic taste in her mouth. Her tongue burns whenever she drinks carbonated drinks or eats mint. Bonfiglio had a burning sensation in her mouth and lower gum, a racing heartbeat and a swollen lip. Magliaro reported an irregular heartbeat and reactions on her lower lip.

Cadbury, which produces Dentyne, Trident, Bubblicious and Halls cough drops has callously declined to comment on the case.