Consumers nowadays want to obtain health benefits from their food and drink, but they must rely on the maker’s labeling for information. This class action takes issue with what it alleges are unlawful labeling and marketing practices by Upslope, LLC, for its Spiked Snowmelt Craft Hard Seltzers Electrolytes Series +.
The Nationwide Class for this action is all persons in the US who bought the products between July 1, 2018 and the present. Colorado and Minnesota Subclasses have also been defined, for those in those states, respectively, who bought the products between July 1, 2018 and the present.
The products at issue are carbonated alcoholic drinks whose packaging bears the words “Electrolyte Series +” and “Electrolyte Infused.” The company claims that they are fortified with electrolytes, including calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
Upslope recommends the products for hydration, calling them “thirst-crushing flavors artfully infused with Skratch Labs’ Sport Hydration Drink Mix” and suggesting, on its website, that the products are good for activities like hot yoga, running clubs, and “post spin-class.”
But the complaint alleges that Upslope is trying “to cash in on the hard seltzer craze” while “distract[ing] from the harm that may occur from alcoholic consumption.”
Under federal regulations, alcoholic drinks must bear health warnings, including, “Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems.”
Alcoholic drinks will not provide good nutritional benefits, the complaint says: “Alcohol is a diuretic, causing the kidneys to remove fluid from the body more quickly than normal. This process of elimination takes precedence over all other metabolic processes, including the absorption of nutrients and minerals.”
It claims that very little in the way of electrolytes will be absorbed from the drinks, but also that the drinks don’t contain much in the way of nutrients to begin with. The complaint reproduces the nutrition and ingredient panels from one of the drinks, noting that it contains is 3% of the daily recommended value for calcium, and 0% of that for potassium.
Drinking larger amounts of alcohol is associated with worse health outcomes. The complaint alleges, “Emerging evidence suggests that even drinking within the recommended limits may increase the overall risk of death from various causes, such as from several types of cancer and some forms of cardiovascular disease.”
Furthermore, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a Fortification Policy, under which it “does not encourage indiscriminate addition of nutrients to foods, nor does it consider it appropriate to fortify … snack foods such as … carbonated beverages.” The policy is binding when the fortifications are advertised by such words as “added” or “plus.”
The complaint therefore says that the fortification of the products “is misleading and deceptive…” It claims, “The Products deceive consumers by implying health and hydration benefits, despite the fact that the alcohol in the product prohibits and counteracts any benefits from the scant amount of nutrients in the Products.”
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Spiked Snowmelt Hard Seltzers with Electrolytes Complaint
July 1, 2022
Consumers nowadays want to obtain health benefits from their food and drink, but they must rely on the maker’s labeling for information. This class action takes issue with what it alleges are unlawful labeling and marketing practices by Upslope, LLC, for its Spiked Snowmelt Craft Hard Seltzers Electrolytes Series +.
Spiked Snowmelt Hard Seltzers with Electrolytes ComplaintCase Event History
Spiked Snowmelt Hard Seltzers with Electrolytes Complaint
July 1, 2022
Consumers nowadays want to obtain health benefits from their food and drink, but they must rely on the maker’s labeling for information. This class action takes issue with what it alleges are unlawful labeling and marketing practices by Upslope, LLC, for its Spiked Snowmelt Craft Hard Seltzers Electrolytes Series +.
Spiked Snowmelt Hard Seltzers with Electrolytes Complaint