Bai Class Action Says Drinks Don’t Contain Real Fruit

Bai beverages are falsely advertised as containing real fruit ingredients despite not containing a significant amount of fruit, according to a class action lawsuit.

Plaintiff Daniel Schwartz recently filed a Bai class action lawsuit claiming that the Antioxidant Cocofusion line of beverages utilizes false advertising.

This line includes four flavors: Andes Coconut Lime, Puna Coconut Pineapple, Mau Coconut Raspberry, and Malawi Coconut Mango.

The labeling for these beverages reportedly include words featuring the two main fruits as well as pictures of the fruits.

According to Schwartz’s Bai class action lawsuit, these prominent representations “give reasonable consumers the reasonable impression and expectation that each one of the beverages does in fact contain real fruit ingredients from the two represented fruits.”

Despite these representations, the beverages allegedly do not contain enough, if any, real fruit ingredients from limes, pineapples, raspberries, or mangoes to create their flavor.

Instead, the Bai Cocofusion beverages are reportedly flavored using compounds to “mimic, masquerade, and counterfeit” the taste of real fruit.

The ingredients listed on the bottle of Bai Cocofusion Andes Coconut Lime include: filtered water, erythritol, stevia leaf extract, natural flavors, coconut water concentrate, potassium citrate, citric acid, white tea extract, sea salt, coffeefruit extract, malic acid, and vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol).

Schwartz references U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, California’s Sherman Food Drug, and Cosmetic Law, and California Health and Safety Code which all require strict and accurate labeling of flavors.

In order to comply with these laws, businesses are reportedly required to disclose if their product lacks real fruit ingredients.

If the product’s name and labeling contains express representations of fruit ingredients, the labeling must contain the word “flavored” in distinct labeling in order to inform customers that the product does not actually contain real fruit.

Bai Cocofusion beverages allegedly fail to adhere to these standards because the products are portrayed as containing real fruit and do not have the essential “flavored” phrase on their labeling, according to the Bai class action.

Schwartz reportedly made regular purchases of Bai Cocofusion Andes Coconut Lime beverages due to his belief that the products contained real fruit ingredients. However, he reportedly later realized that the products were not actually flavored with real fruit ingredients and that he was not getting his money’s worth.

“Plaintiff would not have purchased the Coconut Lime beverage, or any of the other Cocofusion beverages, but for [Bai’s] false, deceptive and misleading advertisement and failure to disclose […] that its Coconut Lime beverage contained lime, and that the other Cocofusion beverages contained pineapple, raspberry, or mango,” the Bai class action claims.

Schwartz seeks to represent a Class of consumers who purchased any of the Cocofusion beverages (including Andes Coconut Lime, Puna Coconut Pineapple, Mau Coconut Raspberry, and Malawi Coconut Mango flavors) since Oct. 25, 2015.

The Bai class action lawsuit seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, restitution, disgorgement, declaratory relief, injunctive relief, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

Schwartz is represented by Rafael Bernardino Jr., Kellan Martz, Andrew A. Kierstead, and John M. Koenig of Hobson Bernardino & Davis LLP, and Peter N. Wasylyk of the Law Offices of Peter N. Wasylyk.

The Bai Cocofusion Andes Coconut Lime Class Action Lawsuit is Schwartz v. Bai Brands LLC, et al., Case No. 2:19-cv-06249-FMO-RAO, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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