Nestlé Class Action Lawsuit Says Coffee Mate Creamer Is Mislabeled

Nestlé has been targeted by a new class action lawsuit over the labeling and ingredients in its vanilla flavored Natural Bliss Coffee Mate creamer.

Lead plaintiff Heather Green of New York says Nestlé Holdings Inc. intentionally deceives customer by labeling its vanilla Coffee Mate Natural Bliss Almond Milk Creamer as all natural when it contains artificial, non-vanilla ingredients.

“[Nestlé] knows consumers will pay more for the product because the front label only states ‘Vanilla’ and the term ‘Natural Flavor’,” the class action lawsuit claims. It also says the product is all natural and plant-based and features an image of “cured vanilla beans beneath a vanilla flower.” Customers will reportedly think that means the coffee creamer’s flavor comes from natural vanilla, but it does not.

The ingredients list printed on the back of the bottle of non-dairy Coffee Mate creamer says it includes natural flavors. According to Green’s class action lawsuit, the term natural flavors references compounds that “enhance, resemble, simulate, reinforce and extend the complex array of flavor notes and aromas of vanilla, but are not derived from vanilla beans.” Therefore, they are artificial flavors, Green argues.

Consumers are increasingly placing a high value on products that derive their flavors from natural source ingredients and strive to avoid products with artificial flavors, the class action lawsuit states. To support that claim, the plaintiff’s lawyer cited three studies by market researchers that published findings indicating the same.

Nielson found that 62% of consumers asked said they try to avoid artificial flavors, while New Hope Network reported 71% of consumers said the same. Label Insight found 76% of consumers it surveyed said they avoid artificial flavors, the class action lawsuit says.

Not only are natural flavor ingredients typically more expensive than artificial ones, vanilla in particular is one of the higher priced ingredients on the market today, according to Green’s class action lawsuit.

An article published by Cooking Light magazine in 2018 said the price of vanilla was upwards of $600 per kilo at the time, which was $60 more than the price of silver. “The cost of vanilla is about 10 times what it used to cost just a few years ago,” the article said.

The price and demand are driven at least in part by vanilla’s flavor attributes, which “cannot be duplicated by science due to over 200 compounds scientists have identified” in vanilla, the class action lawsuit says.

Nestlé’s branding and packaging of the Coffee Mate creamer “is designed to – and does – deceive, mislead” consumers and in so doing the company “sold more of the product and at higher prices than it would have in the absence of this misconduct, resulting in additional profits at the expense of consumers,” the Coffee mate class action lawsuit claims.

Plaintiff Green says she purchased 32-ounce bottles of the vanilla Natural Bliss Coffee Mate creamer throughout 2019 at or above the manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $5.49 each. She did so while relying on the label claims that the coffee creamer was all natural and says, in her class action lawsuit, she would not have bought the Coffee Mate Natural Bliss creamer if she had known there was no actual vanilla in it.

“Consumers, including [the] plaintiff, expect the product’s vanilla taste to only come from vanilla because they are accustomed to labels which prominently disclose the source of a food’s flavor,” the class action lawsuit argues. “The product’s front label does not state ‘contains some vanilla’ or ‘made with a drop of vanilla,’ but designates the characterizing flavor as ‘vanilla’ above the term ‘Natural Flavor.’”

Green’s class action lawsuit accuses Nestlé of violating New York state business laws, committing negligent misrepresentation, breach of express warranty, implied warranty, fraud and unjust enrichment. It seeks to represent everyone who lives in New York and purchased the vanilla Coffee Mate Natural Bliss Almond Milk Creamer.

Have you purchased Nestlé’s vanilla Coffee Mate Natural Bliss Almond Milk Creamer because you thought it was all natural? Did you purchase any other products because they were labeled to be all natural and later found out they weren’t? Tell us about it in the comment section below.

Green and the proposed Class Members are represented by Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates PC.

The Nestlé Coffee Mate Natural Bliss Almond Milk Creamer Class Action Lawsuit is Heather Green v. Nestlé Holdings Inc., Case No. 1:20-cv-07499, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

Ruffles Class Action Lawsuit Says Baked Chips Are Mislabeled

Johnson & Johnson Refuses to Halt International Talc Powder Sales

Strawberry Pop-Tarts Ingredients Are Misleading, Class Action Says

Calif. ExxonMobil Refinery Wage & Hour Settlement