A class-action lawsuit against PepsiCo’s Naked Juice brand ended in a settlement of $9 million for the plantiffs and the company agreeing to stop putting the words “All Natural” on its labels.
Plantiffs in the lawsuit, filed at first in September 2011, claimed that Naked Juice fraudulently promises that its beverage products are “100 percent juice”, “all natural”, and “non-GMO [genetically modified organisms].”
Courthouse News Service wrote at the time: “The plaintiffs contend that Naked Juice, intentionally uses misleading language to give consumers ’the false impression that the beverages vitamin content is due to the nutritious fruits and juices, rather than the added synthetic compounds such as calcium pantothenate (synthetically produced from formaldehyde)‘ and ’Fibersol-2 (a proprietary synthetic digestion-resistant fiber produced by Archer Daniels Midland and developed by a Japanese chemical company), fructooligosaccharides (a synthetic fiber and sweetener) and inulin (an artificial and invisible fiber added to foods to ... increase fiber content without the typical fiber mouth-feel).'”
Naked Emerging Brands denied all the allegations earlier this month in an interview with the trade publication BeverageDaily.com. However, it did state that it will stop using the term “all natural” and will employ the lab Eurofins to substantiate the non-GMO statement on labels, against a standard at least as strict as 2003 European Union standards allowing 0.9 percent GMO content per ingredient.
A spokesperson told the publication that “we’re confident consumers understand this.”
“However, until there is more detailed regulatory guidance around the word ‘natural,’ we’ve chosen not to use ‘all natural’ to describe our juices and smoothies.”
Natural is an ambiguous word to put on labels, since it often doesn’t mean anything under the current labeling requirements in the United States. Non-GMO is also not overseen by the U.S. Food and Drug Agency at the moment, instead usually being privately certified.
