Miyoko’s Kitchen Class Action Says Vegan Butter Contains No Dairy

Vegan creamery Miyoko’s Kitchen faces a class action lawsuit alleging that their vegan butter is wrongly portrayed as similar to butter despite being inferior.

Plaintiff Jasmine Brown claims that the advertising for Miyoko’s Cultured Vegan Butter is an attempt to “bask in dairy’s halo” to the “detriment and impoverishment of plaintiff and class members.”

The vegan butter allegedly uses “familiar terms to invoke positive traits — including the significant levels of various nutrients typically associated with real dairy foods.”

Brown alleges that the Miyoko’s Cultured Vegan Butter is advertised using imagery of traditional butter and assurances that the product “melts, browns, bakes, and spreads like butter.”

“The representations are misleading because despite representing it is a ‘form’ of butter, the products lack any milk or dairy ingredients and the functional, nutritional, sensory and organoleptic attributes which consumers associate with butter,” Brown argues. “For dairy, consumers use short­hand names like butter to make informed purchasing decisions and expect a certain level of product performance and nutrition in return for their money.”

The Miyoko’s Cultured Vegan Butter class action lawsuit also argues that the packaging induces consumers to believe that the vegan butter is as good as traditional butter and tricks them into paying a premium price of $6.99 per package.

However, Brown claims that “the products are nutritionally inferior to butter […] because they lack Vitamin A, Vitamin D and Calcium, among others.”

The Miyoko’s Vegan Butter class action states that “it is false and misleading for the products to not be labeled as an imitation (whether of butter or margarine) in a manner as prominent as it promotes its equivalence to butter.”

The vegan butter class action lawsuit includes a brief but detailed history of butter, including its historical feud with margarine.

“According to archaeologists, butter was discovered serendipitously by nomadic herdsmen of the Neolithic­era, who attached sacks containing milk to their pack animals, and after days of jostling, the milk would be churned into butter,” the Miyoko’s Cultured Vegan Butter class action states. “Since that time, rival food products have sought to dethrone butter as the preferred lipid source to accompany various foods … butter has stood the test of time.”

Miyoko’s Schinner, the chef for Miyoko’s Kitchen, declined to make a statement on the recent allegations because she reportedly hasn’t yet been served with the complaint.

However, according to Law360 Schinner did note that the FDA is currently looking to whether consumers are confused about product names such as “soy milk,” “vegan butter,” and “cashew cheese.”

She also said that several studies “indicate that the vast majority of the public is not confused and understand fully what they are buying when they choose plant-­based alternatives,” according to Law 360.

Brown brings claims of negligent misrepresentation, fraud, breach of warranty, unjust enrichment, and more. She seeks to represent a Class of New York consumers who have purchased any products with “actionable representation” during the statutes of limitation.

Brown and the proposed Class are represented by Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates PC, Joshua Levin­-Epstein of Levin­-Epstein & Associates PC, and Larry Paskowitz of Paskowitz Law Firm PC.

The Miyoko’s Kitchen Vegan Butter Class Action Lawsuit is Brown, et al. v. Miyoko’s Kitchen Inc., Case No. 2:18­-cv­-06079, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.