A New York federal court has dismissed allegations that Aldi Inc. misled consumers about the contents of its vanilla almond milk product. Parham v. Aldi Inc., No. 19-8975 (S.D.N.Y., entered September 21, 2021). The complaint asserted that the almond milk contained a "comparatively high level of vanillin" and "'a trace or de minimus' amount of vanilla," allegedly misleading consumers as to the primary flavoring agent of the product. A magistrate judge provided the court with a recommendation, noting that a "reasonable consumer would understand that the word ‘vanilla’ on the front of the carton describes how the Product tastes, not what it contains, especially in circumstances where the ingredients listed on the Product container do not mention vanilla at all." Further, the magistrate stated, "Five other courts in this district have recently addressed nearly identical arguments regarding other vanilla-flavored products. All five courts rejected claims that the labeling of vanilla-flavored products was…
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A New York federal court has dismissed a lawsuit against Oregon Chai Inc. for failure to state a claim in litigation centered on whether using the term "vanilla" on packaging is misleading to consumers. Cosgrove v. Oregon Chai Inc., No. 19-10686 (S.D.N.Y., entered February 22, 2021). "In the past two years, counsel for Plaintiffs [] has filed numerous class action complaints across the country, including several in this District, challenging food manufacturers’ use of the term 'vanilla' in their descriptions or advertising," the decision begins. "In nearly all of these cases, the district court ultimately found that the plaintiffs had failed to state a viable claim for relief. This time, Plaintiffs challenge Defendant Oregon Chai, Inc. [], claiming that Defendant’s use of the term 'vanilla' and other statements on the packaging of its chai tea latte powdered mix is misleading to consumers. As set forth in the remainder of this Opinion,…
A California federal court has dismissed without prejudice a lawsuit alleging Kellogg Sales Co. misleads consumers as to the characterizing flavor of its Bear Naked V'Nilla Almond granola, finding that the plaintiff could not support his allegation that the product does not contain sufficient amounts of vanilla. Zaback v. Kellogg Sales Co., No. 20-0268 (S.D. Cal., entered October 29, 2020). The plaintiff alleged that the image of vanilla beans on the granola packaging misleadingly implied that "real vanilla derived exclusively from vanilla beans" was the only characterizing flavor. The court had previously dismissed the "allegation that merely because vanilla is expensive Kellogg would have included vanilla on the Product’s ingredient list" and instead assessed the plaintiff's argument that Kellogg "admitted" the product did not contain sufficient vanilla to flavor the granola. "The 'admission' boils down to this: Kellogg’s use of 'Natural Flavors' on the Product’s ingredient list means the product does…
Labeling class action filings focused on purportedly misleading ingredient labels tend to come in waves, and 2019 saw a surfeit of lawsuits targeting vanilla, white chocolate and malic acid. Several plaintiffs alleged that they were misled by products listed as vanilla-flavored because, they argued, they believed they were buying products flavored with vanilla beans rather than artificial vanilla. The allegations reached yogurt, cream soda, ice cream, coconut milk and almondmilk, among other products. D-l malic acid, a synthetic flavoring, was frequently alleged to be masquerading on ingredient lists as malic acid, a naturally occurring compound. Many plaintiffs argued that they purchased products—including Brookside chocolates, Laffy Taffy, orange juice and SweeTarts—believing them to be "natural" and free of synthetic ingredients. Plaintiffs continue to file putative class actions alleging that they were misled by labels marketing products as containing "real cocoa" rather than "cocoa processed with alkali," and Oreos and Cocoa Pebbles…
Joining a number of pending putative class actions, a New York plaintiff's firm has filed three lawsuits alleging that Wegmans Food Markets Inc., Whole Foods Market Group Inc. and Moran Foods LLC mislead consumers by marketing their products as vanilla-flavored while using artificial flavors. As with similar cases previously filed, the complaints target dairy and associated products—ice cream and almondmilk—and allege that the front-of-package representation of the flavor as "vanilla" amounts to violations of New York's consumer-protection statutes. Arriola v. Wegman Food Markets Inc., No. 19-9227 (S.D.N.Y., filed October 4, 2010); Pinkston v. Whole Foods Mkt. Grp. Inc., No. 19-9362 (S.D.N.Y., filed October 9, 2019); Smith v. Moran Foods LLC, No. 19-9453 (S.D.N.Y., filed October 12, 2019).
A plaintiff's attorney firm has filed three putative class actions in New York federal court alleging that products marketed as "vanilla" are misleading consumers by implying that the products contain vanilla rather than vanilla flavoring. A lawsuit targeting Califia Farms' Vanilla and Unsweetened Vanilla varieties of almondmilk asserts that the "front labels represent that the vanilla (i) flavor is exclusively derived from the vanilla plant and (ii) present in an amount sufficient to independently characterize the Products" and alleges that the "representations are misleading because they do not reference flavors other than vanilla even though the ingredient lists reveal the Products contain 'Natural Flavor.'" Cicciarella v. Califia Farms, LLC, No. 19-8785 (S.D.N.Y., filed September 22, 2019). A similar lawsuit challenges Aldi Inc.'s Friendly Farm brand on similar grounds, alleging the almondmilk's vanilla varieties are misleading consumers. Parham v. Aldi Inc., No. 19-8975 (S.D.N.Y., filed September 26, 2019). A third complaint…
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…
Friendly's Manufacturing and Retail markets its ice-cream products as "flavored exclusively from vanilla beans" but uses artificial flavors in at least 57 products, including cakes, cartons, cones, bars and sandwiches, according to a consumer's putative class action. Charles v. Friendly's Mfg. & Retail LLC, No. 19-6571 (S.D.N.Y., filed July 15, 2019). The complaint asserts that Friendly's sells its products as "vanilla" flavored but does not use vanilla-derived flavor. "The Products are misleading because they are marketed as vanilla ice cream adjacent to other vanilla ice cream products which contain vanilla flavoring exclusively from vanilla beans," the plaintiff argues, providing a competitor's label showing "vanilla extract" as an ingredient. "Where two similarly labeled products are situated in the same category or section of a store and their representations as to quality and/or fill are identical, yet the former is lacking the quantity of the characterizing ingredient (vanilla) or qualities, the reasonable…
A plaintiff has alleged that Danone North America misleads consumers by labeling its Dannon and Oikos yogurts as featuring "vanilla with other natural flavors" because the products contain "less vanilla flavor derived from vanilla beans than their name suggests." Andriulli v. Danone N. Am., No. 19-5165 (S.D.N.Y., filed June 2, 2019). The plaintiff asserts that the product flavor "should be labeled 'Vanilla-Vanillin Extract/Flavoring/Powder, Imitation' so consumers are not misled as to the flavor of the Products." Further, the complaint states, Oikos vanilla-flavored yogurt includes beta carotene, which "has the effect of modifying the color of the product closer to the color consumers associate with a product flavored exclusively by vanilla bean components — a tanner, darker shade like in the following stock image." The complaint then features a light orange square. "This coloring makes the consumer less likely to question or probe into the amount and type of vanilla flavor…
