Dive Brief:
- PepsiCo, Inc. is the target of nine California class action lawsuits rolled into one after allegedly misrepresenting the ingredients list of some of its products.
- The lawsuit states that the caramel coloring ingredient used in Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi One produces the carcinogenic byproduct 4-methylimidazole (4-MeI) at levels above what is allowable according to California Proposition 65. The lawsuit also says that Pepsi does not warn California consumers about it.
- PepsiCo stands firm that its products are safe and in accordance with the law.
Dive Insight:
According to the main plaintiff, certain statements in PepsiCo's annual reports from 2010 to 2013 made it seem that the company knew it would be subjected to Prop. 65, and the company even appeared to make moves to fix its ingredients in California. However, the plaintiff holds that PepsiCo did not and that the company instead misled consumers into thinking it was safe to drink Pepsi products.
PepsiCo said that the plaintiff is under a misconception of the intention of Prop 65, "which calculates consumption based on lifetime exposure patterns using the average rate of intake or exposure for average users," Courthouse News Service reported. The company also argued that "mandating a Prop. 65 warning on its products would impose a labeling requirement different from the requirements of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Administration and is therefore subject to the National Labeling and Education Act's preemption of state laws on misbranding," according to Courthouse News Service. The federal judge in charge of the case disagreed with both of these claims.
In other news, PepsiCo is looking back a couple of decades to when it had another product on the market that was said to be healthier than regular Pepsi — Crystal Pepsi. Crystal Pepsi shared the Pepsi flavor but had a clear color instead of the caramel coloring currently called into question in California. The clear coloring was marketed as making a healthier version of Pepsi. The drink may now be brought back by popular demand, according to Business Insider.