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Trader Joe’s Co. and two plaintiffs accusing the grocer of mislabeling some of its food products have jointly agreed to dismiss a deceptive labeling class action lawsuit, according to court documents filed this week in California federal court. This decision came just two days prior to the FDA making final guidance that it considers use of the term “evaporated cane juice” as an ingredient on food labels to be “false and misleading.”
On Monday, plaintiffs Amy Gitson and Deborah Ross, together with Trader Joe’s, filed a joint stipulation of dismissal of the deceptive labeling class action lawsuit in its entirety. The parties did not state a reason for the dismissal and it is unclear if there is a settlement proposal in the works.
Gitson and Ross initially filed the deceptive labeling class action lawsuit against Trader Joe’s in 2013, alleging that the retailer illegally mislabels the amount of sugar, preservatives and added colors contained in some of its products.
According to the Trader Joe’s class action lawsuit, the grocer’s store-brand soy milks were misrepresented as a substitute for dairy milk. This claim was reportedly dismissed in December after a judge found that consumers were unlikely to confuse “soy milk” with dairy milk that comes from cows.
The plaintiffs also asserted that Trader Joe’s use of the term “evaporated cane juice” instead of “sugar” on some of its product labels was deceptive. They argued that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned companies against using “evaporated cane juice” on product labels because it is false and misleading.
The Trader Joe’s class action lawsuit accused the grocer of capitalizing consumers’ growing interest in natural and healthy products by mislabeling its products to conceal the amount of sugar, preservatives and added colors they contain.
As an example, the plaintiffs alleged that Trader Joe’s French Village Strawberry Nonfat Yogurt contains beet juice as an added artificial ingredient that is not a natural part of a yogurt product. They also claimed that Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Salted Caramel Truffles contain tocopherols (TCP), a chemical preservative. According to the Trader Joe’s class action lawsuit, these products should not have contained a label that described them as “all natural.”
By filing the Trader Joe’s deceptive labeling class action lawsuit, Gitson and Ross sought to represent a Class of consumers who purchased Trader Joe’s food products that were labeled with the ingredient “evaporated cane juice” or “organic evaporated cane juice,” or which contained added preservatives or artificial colors.
The plaintiffs are represented by Pierce Gore of Pratt & Associates and Colin Dunn of Clifford Law Offices PC.
The Trader Joe’s Deceptive Labeling Class Action Lawsuit is Amy Gitson, et al. v. Trader Joe’s Co., Case No. 3:13-cv-1333, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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