OWYN Class Action Says Protein Drinks Don’t Contain Vanilla

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Only What You Need Inc. by consumers who claim that their non-dairy plant protein beverages do not contain vanilla.

Plaintiff Tania Pichardo claims that the front labels of the beverages include the brand name Only What You Need (OWYN), “20g Protein,” “plant-based drink,” “Smooth Vanilla,” and a “vignette of the vanilla flower and vanilla beans.”

The plaintiff maintains that there is a high demand for vanilla to be put into foods and that the demand leads to manufacturers creating “clever, deceptive, and dangerous methods” which would imitate the vanilla’s appearance and flavor.

Pichardo states that this practice is known as “food fraud,” which has a goal of giving consumers less that what they thought they were getting from the product they purchased. The OWYN class action lawsuit states that the most commonly challenged component of real vanilla has been to its main flavor component, vanillin.

“Today, only 1-2% of vanillin in commercial use is vanillin obtained from the vanilla plant, which means that almost all vanillin has no connection to the vanilla bean,” the OWYN class action lawsuit states.

The plaintiff alleges that if a product is represented as being characterized by vanilla, but also contains non-vanilla vanillin, the label must state that it has vanillin in it, but that it is an artificial flavor.

This protects customers from being misled by items which may taste similar to real vanilla, but would be sold at the price of real vanilla, according to the OWYN class action lawsuit.

Pichardo maintain that, within the past 10 years, there have been many instances where many vanillin products have been purported to be a “natural flavor.”

“High level executives in the flavor industry are willing to openly boast of their stratagems to give consumers less vanilla for the same price is not unexpected,” the OWYN class action lawsuit states.

The OWYN class action points to a once powerful trade group in the industry known as the The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association which abandoned its policy of misleading vanilla labeling claims and disbanded its Vanilla Committee.

“Though FEMA previously opposed efforts of industry to deceive consumers, it cast the general public to the curb in pursuit of membership dues from its largest members, such as Unilever, rumored to have been behind FEMA’s abandonment of self-regulation,” according to the OWYN class action lawsuit.

The plaintiff also claims that if an “exclusively” vanilla ingredient is added to food, it must be labeled by its common name as provided by its standard of identity.

“Where a food is represented as vanilla without qualification but the ingredient list indicates one flavoring ingredient, ‘natural flavor,’ it means multiple flavor ingredients, compounds, enhancers and adjuvants have been blended together,” the OWYN vanilla class action lawsuit states.

“Defendant’s purpose was to sell a product which purported to contain sufficient amounts of the highlighted ingredient, vanilla, to independently characterize the taste or flavor of the Products, did not contain other flavor components which simulate, resemble or reinforce the characterizing flavor and which enabled use of less of the characterizing flavor,” the OWYN class action lawsuit continues.

The plaintiff claims that OWYN violated New York’s Consumer Protection from Deceptive Acts law and has filed claims under negligent misrepresentation, Breach of Express Warranty, Implied Warranty of Merchantability and the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act.

Did you purchase non-dairy plant protein beverage like OWYN thinking it contained real vanilla? Leave a message in the comments section below.

The plaintiff is represented by Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates PC.

The OWYN Vanilla Class Action Lawsuit is Pichardo v. Only What You Need Inc., Case No. 1:20-cv-00493, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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