Annie’s Naturals Class Action Alleges Salad Dressings Are Not ‘Natural’

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A class action lawsuit alleges that the popular Annie’s Naturals salad dressings are falsely labeled, because they are not actually “natural.”

Specifically, the complaint asserts that putative Class Members “have been injured in fact because Annie’s Naturals® Products contain at least one ingredient – xanthan gum – that is synthetic.”

The Annie’s “natural” salad dressing class action lawsuit claims that the “primary focus of Defendant’s Annie’s Naturals® product line is the claim that the Products are ‘natural,’ and are therefore better than non-natural products.”

The complaint includes a picture of several different bottles of dressing, and highlights that the labels say “Naturals” in multiple places.

The Annie’s Naturals class action lawsuit cites guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration which holds that “natural” food  means “that nothing artificial or synthetic (including all color additives regardless of source) has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in the food.”

Similarly, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a policy that says ingredients which undergo anything other than “minimal” processing are not natural. This includes chemical processes such as bleaching, acid hydrolysis, or solvent extraction.

The class action asserts that all Annie’s salad dressings contain xanthan gum as a thickening agent, which is not “natural” because it is “manufactured through fermentation or carbohydrates and subsequent treatment of the byproduct with isopropyl alcohol.” Because of this, the complaint argues that Annie’s has conducted unfair and deceptive business practices under California and New York law, as well as the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

Plaintiff Lisa Rosillo states that she is a resident of Victorville, California. In July of 2016, Rosillo says she purchased Annie’s Naturals® Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing from a Target store. Plaintiff Jesse Kohn lives in Brooklyn, New York, and claims to have purchased bottles of Annie’s Naturals Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette Salad Dressing and Annie’s Naturals Goddess Dressing in January of 2015.

Both plaintiffs allege that they were “specifically interested in purchasing natural salad dressing,” and saw the “natural” claims on the labels of Annie’s salad dressings. The class action contends that the plaintiffs “paid a premium price” for the “natural” salad dressing, and that they would not have done so if they knew the truth.

The false advertising lawsuit requests certification of a Class of all people in the U.S. who purchased Annie’s Naturals salad dressing not for resale. The complaint also asks for subclasses of California and New York residents under their state consumer protection laws. The class action seeks damages for the proposed Class Members, including punitive damages, as well as an injunction ordering Annie’s to stop its deceptive marketing and engage in a corrective advertising campaign.

Rosillo and Kohn are represented by L. Timothy Fisher and Scott A. Bursor of Bursor & Fisher PA.

The Annie’s “Natural” Salad Dressing False Advertising Class Action Lawsuit is Lisa Rosillo, et al. v. Annie’s Homegrown Inc., Case No. 3:17-cv-02474, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.