Beyond Meat settles class action over false protein, synthetic ingredient claims

Update: 

• Beyond Meat Inc. and a former collaborator reached a confidential settlement to end claims the company falsely advertised its substitute meat products as providing as much protein as real meat after Beyond claimed the lawsuit was driven by a “personal vendetta.” 
• On Oct. 18, Beyond Meat Inc. and Don Lee Farms issued a joint press statement announcing they had reached a “confidential written settlement agreement” to dismiss the federal false advertising claims, as well as separate contract breach lawsuit.
• “No party admitted liability or wrongdoing in connection with the settlement,” the companies say in the press release. “Both sides are satisfied with the outcome.”
• In a pair of motions filed Aug. 5, Beyond Meat Inc. and its founder urged a California federal court to throw out the class action lawsuit, saying Don Lee Farms became “blind with fury” when Beyond Meat ended a co-manufacturing relationship with the company in 2017 after discovering alleged food safety issues.

Beyond Meat protein lawsuit overview: 

• Who: Don Lee Farms filed a lawsuit against Beyond Meat, Inc. and its CEO Ethan Brown. 
• Why: Don Lee Farms claims Beyond Meat overstates the amount of protein its products contain and falsely advertises that its products have no synthetic ingredients. 
• Where: The lawsuit was filed in California federal court. 

(June 6, 2022)

Beyond Meat falsely advertises its substitute meat products as providing as much protein as real meat and that they don’t contain synthetic ingredients, a new class action lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiff Don Lee Farms, a meat and plant-based burger manufacturer, claims Beyond Meat and its CEO Ethan Brown “grossly overstate” the amount of protein in its products.

“Defendants’ misleading claims harm consumers, harm competitors and harm fair competition,” the Beyond Meat lawsuit states. 

Don Lee Farms claims “rigorous product testing” proves Beyond Meat overstates the amount of protein its products contain by up to 30%.

“Unlike Beyond Meat’s unsupported marketing claims, the … testing results are backed by hard science and data,” the Beyond Meat lawsuit states.

Beyond Meat’s “overstatement” of the protein content in its products is “material” and a focal point of its advertising campaigns as the “defining characteristic of the company,” the lawsuit alleges. 

Beyond Meat class action alleges company uses synthetic ingredients in products

Don Lee Farms also argues Beyond Meat’s products contain the synthetic ingredient methylcellulose despite the company advertising that its products do not contain “synthetic” ingredients. 

“Yet despite the methylcellulose in their products, Defendants have flooded the market with promises that their products contain no ‘synthetic’ ingredients and are made ‘directly from plants,’” the Beyond Meat lawsuit states. 

Don Lee Farms claims Beyond Meat is in violation of the Lanham Act and California’s False Advertising Law and Unfair Competition Law. He demands a jury trial and requests injunctive and declaratory relief along with compensatory, consequential and punitive damages. 

In a similar lawsuit, a group of purchasers filed a separate class action lawsuit against Beyond Meat earlier this month claiming the company misrepresents the amount and quality of protein that its substitute meat products contain. 

Have you purchased Beyond Meat’s substitute meat products? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiff is represented by John C. Hueston, Moez M. Kaba and Michael H. Todisco of Hueston Hennigan LLP. 

The Beyond Meat false advertising class action lawsuit is Don Lee Farms v. Beyond Meat Inc., Case No. 2:22-cv-03751, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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