Three Wishes Foods, Inc. puts on the front of its cereal packages the claim that they provide “More Protein” and “8g protein per serving.” But the complaint for this class action alleges that this claim is misleading and that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not allow this kind of protein claim unless the maker provides other information to put it into perspective.
The class for this action is all persons in California who bought the products between August 19, 2018 and the present.
Simple protein claims like those on the Three Wishes cereal package can be misleading in two ways, the complaint claims: (1) consumers may not know how much protein they need per day, and (2) the human body cannot use all proteins equally.
One problem is that not all proteins contain the nine essential amino acids. 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 amino acids from that protein source degrade mostly into waste.” Similarly, if some of a protein source is not digestible, it cannot be used by the body.
The FDA measures the protein in food using the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score, or PDCAAS. This is a number between 0.0 and 1.0 that takes into consideration the food’s amino acid makeup and its digestibility, which is used to multiply the number of grams of protein to arrive at how much protein in the food will support nutritional needs.
For example, if a food has a PDCAAS score of 0.5, then only half the protein in the food contributes to the body’s nutrition. If the food contains 10 grams of protein per serving, then, in reality, the body is only able to get 5 grams worth of nutrition from each serving.
This means that the mere number of grams of protein does not give consumers enough information. The FDA therefore forbids companies from touting the amount of protein in the product unless they do two other things.
First, they must compute the “corrected amount of protein per serving” using the PDCAAS method. Second, the food’s Nutrition Facts Panel (NFP) must derive from this calculation a percentage of the daily value (%DV) of protein needed and show this immediately adjacent to the statement about the amount of protein.
The complaint alleges the main sources of protein in the Three Wishes cereals are chickpea protein, pea protein, and tapioca from cassava. It gives the PDCAAS scores for these foods as 0.75, 0.82, and 0.57, respectively. According to the complaint, this means that the Three Wishes “products will provide nutritionally as little as approximately half of the protein quantity claimed.”
But, the complaint alleges that the NFP does not provide the corrected amount of protein expressed as a %DV. “Accordingly,” the complaint alleges, “the protein claims on the front of the package, such as ‘8g protein per serving’ are unlawful…”
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Three Wishes Cereal Misleading Protein Claims California Complaint
August 19, 2022
Three Wishes Foods, Inc. puts on the front of its cereal packages the claim that they provide “More Protein” and “8g protein per serving.” But the complaint for this class action alleges that this claim is misleading and that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not allow this kind of protein claim unless the maker provides other information to put it into perspective.
Three Wishes Cereal Misleading Protein Claims California ComplaintCase Event History
Three Wishes Cereal Misleading Protein Claims California Complaint
August 19, 2022
Three Wishes Foods, Inc. puts on the front of its cereal packages the claim that they provide “More Protein” and “8g protein per serving.” But the complaint for this class action alleges that this claim is misleading and that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not allow this kind of protein claim unless the maker provides other information to put it into perspective.
Three Wishes Cereal Misleading Protein Claims California Complaint