A California federal court has refused to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that Danone US Inc. creates "a misleading impression regarding the health-promoting benefits" of its Silk Coconutmilk because it markets the product with an accurate representation of the product as free of cholesterol. Marshall v. Danone US, Inc., No. 19-1332 (N.D. Cal., entered September 13, 2019). Danone argued that the cholesterol representation was made in close proximity to the nutrition panel showing that the product contained three grams of saturated fat, but the court noted that the total is one gram more than permitted under federal regulations on the use of "cholesterol-free." "Danone is missing the point," the court held. It noted that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "has expertise in, and responsibility for, determining what food labeling practices may mislead consumers" and that the agency "believes that consumers may understand 'cholesterol-free' to convey certain health benefits that…
Tag Archives plant-based milk
The National Milk Producers Federation has filed a petition with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), calling on the agency to “significantly increase enforcement efforts to prevent the misbranding of certain food items that are imitations of standardized dairy products.” The federation claims that soy-, hemp-, almond- and rice-based products are marketed to consumers as “milk,” “cheese,” “ice cream,” and “yogurt,” but “do not meet the legal standard of identity for those standardized dairy products.” The petition cites several FDA warning letters sent to producers of products advertised as milk or cheese but not containing any “milk,” defined by federal law as the “lacteal secretion, practically free of colostrums, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows.” The federation contends that FDA’s lack of enforcement has resulted in the “traditional retail dairy case” becoming “a chaotic center of misbranded products and false and misleading labeling,” that threatens…
