LaCroix Lawsuit Says Sparkling Water Shares Ingredient with Cockroach Insecticide

The plaintiff in a recent LaCroix lawsuit claims that LaCroix flavored sparkling waters are not made with all natural flavors as advertised, and are instead made with some synthetic ingredients. She alleges these ingredients may be present in many flavors of LaCroix.

Customers and experts say that some of the synthetic ingredients may also appear in insecticides and cancer treatments. Allegedly, the makers of LaCroix did not disclose the presence of these chemicals in LaCroix to their customers.

LaCroix is a brand of sparkling beverages that have subtle fruit flavors. The beverage comes in 32 flavors. Over the years, the brand’s popularity has grown in large part due to the fact that customers see the beverage as healthy and natural.

However, a customer has filed a LaCroix lawsuit in an Illinois state court against National Beverage Company, the makers of the beverage. Plaintiff Lenora Rice claims that LaCroix’s representations that the beverage is “all natural” constitute false advertising. Allegedly, the beverages contain a range of synthetic chemicals that contribute to the beverage’s flavors. Rice says some of those chemicals are also used in insecticides and cancer treatment.

In the LaCroix lawsuit, Rice states that the company knowingly misleads its customers into believing that the beverage is all natural, in an effort to cater to consumers’ preference for natural products and to increase the sales of the products.

The LaCroix beverage class action lawsuit argues that defendant National Beverage Company “is well aware of the goodwill and positive image it receives from American consumers due to LaCroix’s image as a ‘natural’ drink product.”

Rice says that customers are not told of the presence of the synthetic chemicals in the popular beverage. Instead, National Beverage Company merely says that the flavors in the water are “derived from the natural essence oils from the named fruit used in each flavors.”

However, customers go on to argue that this statement is too vague and misleading, and leaves room for doubt. The FDA allegedly does not require companies to privy ingredient lists for “natural flavors” used in a product, as long as the ingredients are generally considered to be safe.

As a result, National Beverage Company allegedly does not disclose the ingredients used in the natural flavors in the products’ advertising and ingredients list. Instead, the company allegedly refuses to disclose the substances present in the natural flavors.

According to Rice, experts say that the following ingredients could possibly be present in LaCroix, and note that these ingredients are present in strikingly wide range of products:

• Linalool, an ingredient in insecticide
• Linalool Propionate, used in strong cancer treatment drugs
• Limonene, linked to tumors and kidney problems

LaCroix is one of many brands whose use of “natural” labeling has been challenged in court. Consumers argue that companies are exploiting market interest in all-natural products to get consumers to buy foods, cosmetics, and other products that they would not have purchased otherwise.

Rice’s LaCroix lawsuit argues that had she know that the LaCroix beverage contained synthetic ingredients, she would not have purchased the product or would not have paid as much for it. As a result, she claims that they were financially injured by National Beverage Company’s alleged deception.