Tillamook Class Action Says Yogurt Contains No Vanilla

A New Yorker has filed a class action lawsuit against Tillamook County Creamery Association, accusing the dairy producer of falsely advertising its Greek yogurt as containing real vanilla.

Plaintiff Maritza Angeles says she purchased Tillamook’s Old-Fashioned Vanilla Lowfat Greek Yogurt at least in part because she believed it to be flavored with genuine vanilla, but discovered later that the yogurt was flavored with imitation vanilla. 

Allegedly, she got the impression that the product was flavored with genuine vanilla based on the product’s packaging, which Angeles argues is intentionally designed to mislead customers into thinking that the yogurt contains real vanilla.

Angeles says this is evinced by the greek yogurt’s ingredients list and the small print of the product, but not by the large advertisements on the product’s front which serve to attract customers. 

According to the Tillamook class action lawsuit, federal regulation requires companies to disclose the presence of imitation vanilla on labeling so consumers know what they are buying.

Angeles notes that vanilla is the most popular flavor in this country and one of the world’s most expensive flavors. This allegedly means that many companies have tried to cut down on costs but appeal to consumer interest by selling products with imitation vanilla.

According to the Tillamook Greek yogurt class action lawsuit, a number of popular imitation vanilla products include other natural products that mimic the flavor and appearance of vanilla — including annatto and turmeric which imitate the color of vanilla.

Angeles says Tillamook employs this strategy, using the vague term “natural flavors” to mislead customers into thinking they are getting a product flavored with vanilla, which is itself a natural flavor, when they are really getting an imitation product also flavored with other, less desirable natural flavors.

The Tillamook class action lawsuit argues that the company’s deception does not stop there — the yogurt contains vanilla bean, which the company misleads customers into thinking flavors the yogurt.

Instead, vanilla bean just functions to give the product the characteristic speckled look of a product flavored with vanilla, even though the vanilla flavor has already been extracted from the bean. 

Angeles notes that the side of the yogurt packaging reads “lowfat Greek yogurt with other natural flavors” — allegedly, this is positioned inconspicuously, on the outer edge of the front label. She goes on to explain that the ingredients lists “natural flavor” and lower down in the list, “vanilla beans,” and even lower “annato” and “turmeric” for color. 

Angeles and other consumers were financially injured by Tilamook’s misleading advertising, according to the Tillamook class action.

The plaintiff argues that, had she and other consumers known the the yogurt was made with imitation vanilla and not real vanilla, they would not have purchased it or would not have paid as much as they did for it.

The Tillamook class action claims that the company is able to charge a premium price for the products because they passed the greek yogurt off as a valuable product, while really providing customers with a lower-quality item and making a larger profit in the process.

Tillamook recently faced similar claims about its ice cream — customers in a separate class action lawsuit claimed that the company attempts to pass off its ice cream as flavored with vanilla, when it was actually artificially flavored.

Do you seek out products made with real vanilla? Let us know what you think of this Tillamook class action lawsuit in the comments below.

Angeles is represented by Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates PC and Michael R. Reese of Reese LLP.

The Tillamook Vanilla Greek Yogurt Class Action Lawsuit is Angeles v. Tillamook County Creamery Association, Case No. 1:20-cv-01764, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. 

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