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A pair of class action lawsuits have been filed in California court claiming that fish oil supplements contain a substance that cannot be found in nature, misleading consumers.
The lead plaintiffs in two class action lawsuits filed in California federal court claim that supplement makers International Vitamin and Nutra Manufacturing and MiMi’s Rock Corp cash in on health-conscious consumers, but fail to disclose that the chemical process used to make their fish oil products “irrevocably” transforms the substance, “such that it is no longer fish oil.” The litigation targets the popular supplements Dr. Tobias Omega 3 Fish Oil Triple Strength and GNC-brand Triple Strength Fish Oil.
Consuming fish oil, particularly Omega-3 Fatty Acids, has been linked to a number of heatlh benefits, say the class action lawsuits. However, many Americans fail to eat enough fatty fish, including salmon, herring, and Albacore tuna, to take advantage of these benefits. Instead, like the plaintiffs, many have turned to fish oil supplements, driving up profits in the industry from $35 million in 1995 to $1.9 billion in 2019, according to the plaintiffs.
The traditional process for making fish oil is physical. The fish are caught, cooked, and pressed to extract the oil, explain the class action lawsuits.
The plaintiffs contend that the makers of Dr. Tobias Omega 3 Fish Oil Triple Strength and GNC-brand Triple Strength Fish Oil instead use a cheaper, chemical process to make their product called “trans-esterification”. Allegedly, trans-esterification allows manufacturers to use lower-grade, rancid fish.
In addition, the plaintiffs say the trans-esterification process changes the fish oil at a molecular level, “substantially transforming it from a natural product, into a synthetic product called Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ethyl Esters – a substance that is not found anywhere in nature.”
The plaintiffs accuse the supplement makers of misleading consumers about their so-called fish oil products. Both are labeled as “Omega 3” supplements, but the plaintiffs contend that the substance contained in the fish oil is substantially different from the natural product.
“Once trans-esterified, fish oil is irrevocably transformed, such that it is no longer fish oil and therefore cannot be so named or labeled,” says the GNC fish oil class action lawsuit. “To do so, as IVC has done, is false, misleading, deceptive, unlawful, and perpetrates an actionable fraud on the consuming public.”
The plaintiffs accuse the makers of Dr. Tobias and GNC fish oil supplements of misleading consumers. They seek to represent nationwide Classes, as well as New York and California subclasses. They are seeking damages, as well as a court order stopping the fish oil makers from deceptively labeling their products.
Do you take fish oil? Are you concerned that the production process strips the health benefits from fish oil? Tell us in the comment section below!
The plaintiff in the Dr. Tobias lawsuit is represented by Michael D. Braun in Kuzyk Law, LLP.
The Dr. Tobias Fish Oil Class Action Lawsuit is Hernandez v. Mimi’s Rock, Corp., Case No. 3:21-cv-04065-JCS in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Oakland Division.
The plaintiff in the GNC lawsuit is represented by Michael D. Braun in Kuzyk Law, LLP and Laurence D. King, Maia Kats, and Mario M. Choi of Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer, LLP.
The GNC Fish Oil Class Action Lawsuit is Gatto v. International Vitamin Corporation and Nutra Manufacturing, LLC, Case No. 8:21-cv-00889 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Southern Division.
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