Rebbl, Inc. makes Plant Powered Elixir beverages which claim on the packaging to provide “16g protein.” But the complaint for this class action alleges that Rebbl misleads consumers with this claim, because the packaging does not also provide certain information that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires for products making protein claims.
The Nationwide Class for this action is all persons in the US who bought the products between September 16, 2018 and the present. A California Subclass has also been defined for those in the above class in California.
There are two problems with protein claims, the complaint alleges. The first is that consumers may not know how much protein they actually need per day. The other is that different proteins have different abilities to meet consumers’ daily nutritional requirements, so that limiting the claim to the number of grams of protein with no information about quality is misleading.
Some proteins do not have all nine of the amino acids that human beings need. The complaint alleges, “When a human body uses up the least prevalent essential amino acid from a food product, protein synthesis shuts down and all of the remaining essential amino acids from that protein source degrade mostly into waste.” Also, some proteins are not fully digestible by humans, the complaint says, so that the undigestible portion is also wasted.
The FDA has a way of measuring protein quality called the Protein Digestibility Correct Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) method. PDCAAS addresses both the amino acid profile of a food and its digestibility to arrive at a number between 0.0 and 1.0. A food with a PDCAAS score of 0.5 has only about half its protein available to support human needs. Thus 10 grams of protein in that food would supply only 5 usable grams of protein.
Food companies that wish to make protein claims must therefore calculate the PDCAAS score for the protein in their products, and then must use that to make a statement in the nutrition facts panel about the amount of protein per serving expressed as a percent daily value (%DV) related to the daily reference value for protein, which is 50 grams. The makers of a food or drink like the Plant Powered Elixirs, the complaint alleges, “may not make any front label claims about the amount of protein in the product unless it complies with these two requirements.”
The main protein in the Plant Powered Elixirs, the complaint claims, is pea protein, which has a PDCAAS score of .80 to .85. This means, the complaint says, that the products provide only 80-85% of the amount of protein claimed on the front of the package. However, the company has not provided a corrected amount of protein per serving expressed as a “%DV” on the nutrition facts panel. Therefore, the complaint alleges, it is unlawful for the company to make the “16g protein” claim on its front label, and the claim is likely to mislead consumers.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Rebbl Plant Powered Elixir Drinks Protein Claims Complaint
September 16, 2022
Rebbl, Inc. makes Plant Powered Elixir beverages which claim on the packaging to provide “16g protein.” But the complaint for this class action alleges that Rebbl misleads consumers with this claim, because the packaging does not also provide certain information that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires for products making protein claims.
Rebbl Plant Powered Elixir Drinks Protein Claims ComplaintCase Event History
Rebbl Plant Powered Elixir Drinks Protein Claims Complaint
September 16, 2022
Rebbl, Inc. makes Plant Powered Elixir beverages which claim on the packaging to provide “16g protein.” But the complaint for this class action alleges that Rebbl misleads consumers with this claim, because the packaging does not also provide certain information that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires for products making protein claims.
Rebbl Plant Powered Elixir Drinks Protein Claims Complaint