Dive Brief:
- A proposed class action lawsuit filed Nov. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California claims that Honest Tea's Honey Green Tea is being dishonestly marketed because its label claims it contains more "antioxidants green tea flavonoids" than it actually does.
- The suit claims the company has misrepresented the amount of antioxidants it contains since 2008, and throughout various labeling changes.
- Plaintiff Sarah A. Salazar says she would not have purchased Honest Tea's Honey Green Tea on numerous occasions if she had known it contained fewer antioxidants than the label claimed.
Dive Insight:
According to the lawsuit, Honest Tea outs itself in its own marketing materials, which cite two issues of Men's Health where "independently tested" Honey Green Tea is shown to contain 71 mg of EGCG, a "super antioxidant." The label was changed in 2011 to state that it contained "190mg Tea Catechins/Bottle instead of the original claim of "250mg EGCG Super Antioxidant" per bottle. It changed the label again in 2013 to state "247 mg Antioxidants Green tea Flavonoids Per Bottle," and the suit claims the formulation remained the same, so that's still well above its alleged real antioxidant content.