A federal appeals court has revived a consumer lawsuit alleging Chobani’s “Zero Sugar” yogurt is deceptively labeled because it contains 4g of allulose per serving. The case, Francos v. Chobani, could have implications extending well beyond yogurt. The suit casts a spotlight on how food manufacturers and media communicate about the ingredients in foods and beverages, and hopefully will help usher in some much-needed change in that regard.
Allulose is a monosaccharide sugar, an iso-epimer of fructose, found naturally in small amounts in fruits and other plants and produced commercially from grains, beets, and tapioca. It has roughly the same functional and organoleptic qualities of fructose, glucose, or sucrose yet with 90-95% fewer calories. As a true sugar but without the caloric or glycemic load, labeling became complicated.
In 2019, FDA announced that allulose could be excluded from “Total Sugars” and “Added Sugars” declarations on Nutrition Facts labels. Subsequent FDA enforcement guidance reinforced that position while additional research and rulemaking continued. Yet FDA maintains that its guidance represents an enforcement policy rather than a formal interpretation shielding manufacturers from private litigation.
From the viewpoint of the Francos, the dispute centers on the difference between the chemical definition of sugar, and that they were deprived of the “benefit of the bargain” when purchasing a product labeled Zero Sugar. However, under the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act—the suit was filed in the 7th District Court in Illinois—plaintiffs generally must connect an allegedly deceptive representation to actual damages.
In this episode of the editorial series “Reasoned Opinion,” the Prepared Foods network’s Executive Editor–Technical David Feder, RDN, exposes how using vernacular language in labeling can clash with technical accuracy and open the door to undesirable litigation.
Watch the video of the interview above or listen to the audio podcast here:
A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit claiming Chobani’s “Zero Sugar” yogurt is misleadingly labeled for containing 4g of allulose per serving.
In this episode of the editorial series “Reasoned Opinion,” the Prepared Foods network’s Executive Editor–Technical David Feder, RDN, exposes how using vernacular language in labeling can clash with technical accuracy and open the door to undesirable litigation.
Want to know more? You can read articles, listen to podcast, and view videos on news and trends in sugar reduction here.