Dive Brief:
- Kraft Foods Group's Capri Sun brand is the latest target in an "all natural" lawsuit, as the plaintiff argues four varieties — apple, berry, fruit punch, and grape — actually contained artificial ingredients. These ingredients included citric acid or "natural flavor," which is considered an artificial ingredient.
- The lawsuit may eventually obtain class-action status, which would include all consumers who purchased Capri Sun within four years of when the lawsuit was filed. Yuri Osborne, who filed the lawsuit, is looking for more than $5 million in damages in addition to court costs.
- "The market for all natural foods has grown rapidly in the past few years, a trend (Kraft) seeks to take advantage of through the subject false and misleading advertising," according to the lawsuit.
Dive Insight:
Kraft's Capri Sun was the subject of a similar lawsuit in 2007, when the Center for Science in the Public Interest sued Kraft over the Capri Sun label's "all natural" claim while it contained high fructose corn syrup.
CSPI dropped the lawsuit when Kraft said it would remove the "all natural" label. Years later, but before this more recent "all natural" labeling lawsuit was filed on June 17, Kraft announced in February that it would retool its original Capri Sun recipe to replace high-fructose corn syrup with sugar, and in its low-calorie Roarin' Water varieties, stevia will replace sucralose.
Mislabeling lawsuits continue to be filed, particularly in the realm "healthy" or "natural" as food companies develop and place products for health-conscious consumers. The lawsuits show that these claims are subject to much scrutiny.