Zarbee’s Naturals Kid’s Cough Syrup Isn’t ‘Chemical-Free’, Class Action Alleges

A company that makes health products for children and babies is facing claims one of its cough syrups for kids isn’t as “natural” as it says.

In a lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York Friday, New York resident Akiela Babb asked a judge to certify her as plaintiff in a class action alleging Zarbee’s Naturals intentionally misrepresented the ingredients in its Children’s Nighttime Cough Syrup + Mucus with Dark Honey, Grape Flavor.

Babb bought the product over the last month due to the cough syrup’s labeling, which she said emphasizes the product’s “natural” ingredients through the terms “chemical free” and “handpicked natural ingredients.” 

However, the lawsuit alleges the cough syrup includes ingredients that have been made through chemical processes or fermentation. While the ingredients are naturally-occurring, the types used in the cough syrup are not from natural sources, the class action alleges.

“Though the Product’s ingredients include Dark Honey, English Ivy Leaf Extract and Grapefruit Seed Extract, it contains non-natural, artificial and synthetic ingredients including melatonin, vitamin C (as ascorbic acid), citric acid and zinc (as zinc gluconate).” 

The vitamin C in the cough syrup, the class action alleges, is made from fermentation of a fungus, the melatonin is obtained through “complex chemical synthesis requiring toxic solvents and catalysts” and the zinc is produced through a range of chemical reactions. 

The lawsuit states Babb would not have bought the children’s cough syrup for the “premium price”of $6.99 had she known, alleging Zarbee’s marketing around the product being “natural” pushed the price of the product up.

“Reasonable consumers must and do rely on defendant to honestly report what its products contain – natural ingredients, especially active ingredients that are natural,” the class action states. 

Zarbee’s Naturals — which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2018 — misrepresented the cough syrup through “affirmative statements, half-truths, and omissions,” the suit contended.

The lawsuit says the Food and Drug Administration has not formally defined “natural” but has established a working definition consistent with their research into consumer understanding of this term, to mean that nothing artificial or synthetic has been included in, or has been added to, a product other than what would normally be expected to be in that product. 

Homeopathic drug manufacturers are hit with class action lawsuits from time to time over their advertising. In 2012, a false advertising class action lawsuit was filed against Nature’s Way alleging the company’s homeopathic treatments were falsely marketed as cure-all without any verified scientific evidence to back up Nature’s Way’s claims.

Babb seeks to represent a class of New York citizens, and is asking for an injunction that would force Zarbee’s to correct the items raised in the lawsuit, plus damages and costs.

She is suing Zarbee’s under the New York General Business Law Consumer Protection Statutes as well as for breaches of warranty, negligent misrepresentation, fraud and unjust enrichment.

Will you pay more for a supplement you believe is completely natural? Let us know what you think of the class action in the comments.

Counsel for the plaintiffs is Spencer Sheehan Sheehan & Associates, P.C.

The Zarbee’s Chemical-Free Class Action Lawsuit is Akiela Babb et.al. v. Zarbee’s, Inc., Case No. 7:21-cv-01493 in the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York.

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