Nature Made “Natural Flavors” for Fruit-Flavored Gummy Vitamins Class Action

Pharmavite, LLC makes Nature Made brand fruit-flavored gummy multivitamins. The label promises that only natural flavors are used to make the vitamins, but the complaint alleges that these representations are “false, deceptive, and misleading” because the gummy vitamin project contains DL-Malic Acid, an artificial flavoring ingredient.

Two classes have been defined for this action:

• The Illinois Class is all persons in Illinois who bought the product during that applicable statutes of limitations.
• The Consumer Fraud Multi-State Class is all persons in Arkansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Texas, Nebraska, South Dakota, West Virginia, Utah, Idaho, Alaska, and Montana who bought the product during the statutes of limitations for each cause of action alleged.

Consumers are becoming more and more concerned about the ingredients in their foods and beverages. According to the complaint, “[c]onsumers value fruit and natural flavors, especially in the context of vitamins.” The reasons for this are varied, it claims, although they include the fact that natural flavors are healthier and they don’t want ingredients that “are highly processed with chemical additives and synthetic solvents in laboratories. In some cases, it says, consumers may even feel that the choice of natural ingredients is a moral decision.

The complaint claims, “Surveys have shown that consumers are less likely to buy vitamins which have artificial ingredients.”

The first page of the complaint bears an image of the Nature Made gummy vitamin product, with representations including, “Orange, Cheery & mixed Berry with Other Natural Flavors” and “No Artificial Flavors—Natural Fruit Flavors,” along with images of a raspberry, orange, cherry, and strawberry. The complaint alleges, “The representations cause consumers to expect only natural fruit flavors.”

Page 5 of the complaint shows an image of the ingredient label for the product. According to this label, the product contains more “Malic Acid” than “Natural Flavors.” The list does not inform potential purchasers that Malic Acid is an artificial ingredient, the complaint claims.

According to the complaint, two types of malic acid exist—D-malic acid and L-malic acid, with only L-malic acid occurring naturally. The complaint states, “D-Malic Acid is most commonly found as a racemic mixture…, DL-Malic Acid, which is commercially made from petroleum products.

The complaint alleges, “Laboratory analysis concluded this, or other substantially similar Products sold by [Pharmavite] contain artificial DL-Malic Acid, instead of natural, L-Malic Acid.”

The complaint alleges, “A natural chemical combination of sugar and L-Malic Acid, altered by adding artificial DL-Malic Acid, is no longer equivalent to the original chemical combination of sugar and L-Malic Acid, and therefore no longer the natural flavor.”

The complaint contends, “DL-Malic Acid is not a ‘natural flavor’ as this term is defined by federal and state regulations and is not derived from a fruit or vegetable or any other natural source.”

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: All Natural Claims, Contains synthetic ingredients, Deceptive Advertising, Deceptive Labels