Luden’s is one of the oldest brands of throat lozenges in the world. Its Wild Cherry pectin lozenges are made by Prestige Consumer Healthcare, Inc. Although these kinds of products do not have to make disclosures about the sources of their flavoring according to the same rules as foods do, the complaint for this class action alleges, they are not supposed to make misleading representations. But the complaint takes issue with the designation of the flavor as simply “Wild Cherry.”
Two classes have been proposed for this action:
- The New York Class is all persons in New York who bought the product during the applicable statutes of limitations.
- The Consumer Fraud Multi-State Class is all persons in Texas, North Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, Alaska, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Utah who bought the product during the applicable statutes of limitations.
Page 1 of the complaint shows an image of the product’s packaging. The front label of the bag shows the words “Wild Cherry” along with an image of two cherries with a leaf attached to their stems. Because of the description of the lozenges as “Wild Cherry” above the images of two cherries, the complaint alleges, “consumers will expect its taste comes from cherry ingredients and lacks artificial cherry flavoring.
This would be a positive point for the product if it were true, the complaint suggests. “Surveys by Nielsen indicate that between sixty and eighty percent of consumers try and avoid artificial flavors,” the complaint alleges, for reasons such as this kind of flavoring’s “use of chemical compounds, believed to have negative health and environmental effects.”
However, page 2 of the complaint reproduces the product’s inactive ingredient panel, which includes no wild cherry ingredients but only “ascorbic acid, citric acid, corn syrup, FD&C blue no. 2, FD&C red no. 40, flavor, malic acid, sodium acetate, sodium chloride, soybean oil, sucrose, [and] water.” The complaint claims, “Based on laboratory and/or other analysis and information, the malic acid and/or flavor are from artificial sources, and impart a cherry taste to the pectin lozenges.”
The complaint claims that the plaintiff in this case “saw the two cherries and read ‘Wild Cherry’ and believed the cherry taste was from cherry ingredients, not from artificial flavoring ingredients with no connection to cherries.” If he had known the flavoring was “from artificial flavors from non-cherry sources,” the complaint claims, he would have paid less for it or would not have bought it. The product’s value, the complaint says, “was materially less than its value as represented” by the company.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Luden’s “Wild Cherry” Lozenges Source of Flavoring Complaint
December 16, 2022
Luden’s is one of the oldest brands of throat lozenges in the world. Its Wild Cherry pectin lozenges are made by Prestige Consumer Healthcare, Inc. Although these kinds of products do not have to make disclosures about the sources of their flavoring according to the same rules as foods do, the complaint for this class action alleges, they are not supposed to make misleading representations. But the complaint takes issue with the designation of the flavor as simply “Wild Cherry.”
Luden’s “Wild Cherry” Lozenges Source of Flavoring ComplaintCase Event History
Luden’s “Wild Cherry” Lozenges Source of Flavoring Complaint
December 16, 2022
Luden’s is one of the oldest brands of throat lozenges in the world. Its Wild Cherry pectin lozenges are made by Prestige Consumer Healthcare, Inc. Although these kinds of products do not have to make disclosures about the sources of their flavoring according to the same rules as foods do, the complaint for this class action alleges, they are not supposed to make misleading representations. But the complaint takes issue with the designation of the flavor as simply “Wild Cherry.”
Luden’s “Wild Cherry” Lozenges Source of Flavoring Complaint