Food companies sometimes tout the amount of protein in their products. But this can be deceptive, because not all proteins are of equal value to humans. The complaint for this class action alleges that certain of Van’s International Foods, Inc. products are misbranded, because they are not labeled to give an accurate picture of their protein content.
The class for this action is all persons in the US who bought the products at issue between January 1, 2022 and the present. A California Subclass has also been defined for those in the class who are in California. The products at issue are the following:
- Van’s Protein Waffles, Original
- Van’s Protein Waffles, Blueberry
- Van’s Protein Waffles, Chocolate Chip
- Van’s Protein Pancakes, Original
- Van’s Protein Pancakes, Chocolate Chip
- Van’s Simply Wholesome Pancakes, Homestyle
As an example, the complaint takes Van’s Power Grains Protein Original Waffles, showing the representation “10g Plant-Based Protein.”
But some proteins do not have all nine amino acids essential for humans to synthesize protein; some are not fully digestible by humans.
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. Likewise, whatever portion of a protein source is not digestible is similarly unavailable for protein synthesis.”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) therefore requires that proteins be measured by their quality, shown by the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS). This considers the protein’s amino acids and digestibility provides a “discount factor” ranging from 0.0 to 1.0 to show how much of the protein is available to meet human nutritional needs.
For example, if a product contains 10g of protein but has a discount factor of 0.5, then only half of the protein in the product will meet human nutritional needs. Its corrected amount of protein per serving is only 5g.
The complaint alleges, “The primary protein sources in [Van’s] products are wheat and oats. Both are low quality proteins with PDCAAS scores that range between 0.4 and 0.5.”
But that’s not all. Food companies don’t just have to use PDCAAS in calculating the amount of protein per serving. They must also put this information in the Nutrition Facts Panel (‘NFP’) as a percent daily value (%DV) for protein. This is the corrected amount of protein per serving divided by the daily reference value for protein, which is 50 grams.
The same product, then, with a 0.5 PDCAAS, has a %DV of 10% (5g of a 50g requirement). If all the protein had been useful to provide human nutrition, then the %DV would have been 20% (10g of a 50g requirement).
The complaint alleges that the Van’s protein claims are misleading in that they do not consider quality and do not provide a %DV calculated using the PDCAAS score.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Consumer
Most Recent Case Event
Van’s Waffles and Pancakes Amount of Protein Provided Complaint
January 1, 2022
Food companies sometimes tout the amount of protein in their products. But this can be deceptive, because not all proteins are of equal value to humans. The complaint for this class action alleges that certain of Van’s International Foods, Inc. products are misbranded, because they are not labeled to give an accurate picture of their protein content.
Van’s Waffles and Pancakes Amount of Protein Provided ComplaintCase Event History
Van’s Waffles and Pancakes Amount of Protein Provided Complaint
January 1, 2022
Food companies sometimes tout the amount of protein in their products. But this can be deceptive, because not all proteins are of equal value to humans. The complaint for this class action alleges that certain of Van’s International Foods, Inc. products are misbranded, because they are not labeled to give an accurate picture of their protein content.
Van’s Waffles and Pancakes Amount of Protein Provided Complaint