Whole Foods Class Action: Vitamin B12 Supplement Content Understated

Whole Foods has been misleading its customers by putting more vitamin B12 in its B12 supplements than the labels indicate, according to a new class action.

Plaintiff Matthew Palmer filed this false advertising class action lawsuit Jan. 18 in Los Angeles county court, seeking a damage award and a change in the way premium grocery chain Whole Foods labels its store-brand liquid B vitamin supplements.

According to this Whole Foods class action lawsuit, vitamin B12 is necessary for healthy metabolism, blood cells, and nerves. Malnutrition, cancer, HIV infection, pregnancy, old age, alcoholism, or a strict vegetarian or vegan diet may lead to a vitamin B12 deficiency, and persons with these conditions may purchase and uses B12 supplements to remedy that deficiency.

Palmer says he purchased three different Whole Foods products with misrepresented B vitamin content: Liquid Energy Shot, Liquid Vitamin B12, and Super B12 Complex, all sold under Whole Foods’ 365 Everyday Value store brand. These products were advertised to contain 500 to 1,000 micrograms of B12 per serving, he says.

But as Palmer allegedly discovered later, “scientific testing reveals that the product contains B12 in amounts that far exceed the amount listed on the label.”

Some of the Whole Foods products at issue use a form of B12 known as cyanocobalamin, or CyCO. CyCO is not the most stable form of B12 available, Palmer says, and Whole Foods may be adding an excess of CyCO to account for the quick degradation of B12 that begins when the package is opened.

Consumers like Palmer relied on the numbers on the label when deciding to purchase these Whole Foods supplements, the complaint says. The allegedly inaccurate labeling caused these consumers to pay more than they should have and to overconsume vitamin B12.

Had Palmer and the proposed Class Members known these labels understate the amount of B12, he claims, they never would have purchased these products or would have purchased different ones. His Whole Foods class action lawsuit raises claims for violations of California’s Business & Professions Code and Sherman Food, Drug and Cosmetic Law, among other claims.

Palmer is proposing to represent a plaintiff Class covering all persons in California who purchased Whole Foods liquid vitamin B12 products within four years prior to the filing of this action. These products include Liquid Energy Shot, Liquid Vitamin B12, and Super B12 B Complex, and any substantially similar B12 product.

He seeks a court injunction barring Whole Foods from representing its liquid B vitamin products as having a specified amount of B vitamins per serving and requiring the company to run a corrective advertising campaign. He also seeks damages, disgorgement of related revenues, court costs and attorneys’ fees, all with pre- and post-judgment interest.

Palmer is represented by Jason Ibey and Abbas Kazerounian of Kazerouni Law Group APC and by Joshua Swigart of Hyde & Swigart

The Whole Foods Vitamin B12 Supplement Mislabeling Class Action Lawsuit is Palmer v. Whole Foods Market IP LP, Case No. BC690514, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.