Chobani must face a lawsuit alleging the yogurt company deceived consumers by using a “zero sugar” label on a product containing the natural sweetener allulose.
A federal appellate judge is reviving a 2025 lawsuit against the yogurt giant after it was initially dismissed by a district court. The judge moved to allow the case to continue after the FDA issued an amicus brief stating that allulose is included under the legal definition of sugar, which includes all monosaccharides.
Chobani’s Zero Sugar Yogurt contains 4 grams of allulose per serving. Federal regulations require foods advertised as sugar-free to contain less than half a gram of sugar.
Chobani argues FDA enforcement guidance in 2020 stated the agency wouldn’t count allulose as sugar in determining compliance with labeling requirements pending further rulemaking and research into how the sweetener reacts with the body.
However, in its amicus brief to the court, the FDA said it still has yet to introduce a rule on allulose and that its enforcement guidance should not be taken as an interpretation that could shield companies from consumer action.
In a statement, a Chobani spokesperson said allulose doesn’t add calories, raise blood sugar or lead to cavities like traditional sugars.
“While we respectfully disagree with the appellate court decision reversing the dismissal of the case, we look forward to presenting additional arguments to the district court,” the spokesperson said.
The case will now head into the discovery phase, where plaintiffs Jason and Abigail Franco must prove that reasonable consumers could be misled by the Chobani label.
“Perhaps consumers aren’t deceived by Chobani’s products because they don’t understand promises about sugars to mean allulose,” the judge wrote in the decision. “But how reasonable consumers perceive Chobani’s labels and make decisions about its products are questions of fact that cannot be answered now.”
