Living Harvest Tempt Hempmilk Contains Hidden Sugar, Class Action Says

Living Harvest Foods Inc., the makers of Tempt Hempmilk products, was hit with a class action lawsuit Jan. 30, alleging that the company’s use of the term “evaporated cane juice” in its ingredient list instead of “sugar” is misleading.

Plaintiff Stephanie Miller alleges in the Tempt Hempmilk class action lawsuit that Living Harvest profited by deceiving its customers into thinking that its hempmilk product was healthier because it labeled the sweetener in its products as “evaporated cane juice,” when it is really just sugar.

“[Living Harvest] engaged in a uniform campaign through which it purposefully misrepresented and continues to purposefully misrepresent to consumers that its products contain [evaporated cane juice] even though ‘evaporated cane juice’ is not ‘juice’ at all — it is nothing more than sugar cleverly disguised,” the class action lawsuit states.

“[Living Harvest] conceals the fact that its products have added sugar by referring to the sugar as evaporated cane juice, a ‘healthy’ sounding name made up by the sugar industry years ago to sell sugar to ‘healthy’ food manufacturers for use in their consumer products,” it explains.

However, the Living Harvest class action lawsuit continues to explain that “evaporated cane juice is not the common or usual name of any sweetener, or even any type of juice, and the use of such a name is false and misleading.”

The class action lawsuit, if certified, is for anyone who purchased Tempt Hempmilk products beginning in Oct. 22, 2009 to the present, which includes the original, vanilla and chocolate flavors, but not any of the unsweetened varieties that do not contain evaporated cane juice.

In October 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent out draft guidance saying that the term “evaporated cane juice” could not be used “as an ingredient on food labels” as it gives the false impression that the product contains a sweetener that is a juice.

“The term ‘evaporated cane juice’ is not the common or usual name of any type of sweetener,” the FDA stated. “Sweeteners derived from sugar can syrup should not be listed in the ingredient declaration by names which suggest the ingredients are juice.”

Miller is charging Living Harvest with two violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and unjust enrichment. She is asking that Class Members be reimbursed the money they spent on Tempt Hempmilk products and any other relief that the Court decides is appropriate.

The plaintiff is represented by Lance A. Harke, Sarah Clasby Engel and Howard M. Bushman of Harke Clasby & Bushman LLP and Jason R. Alderman of the Alderman Law Firm.

The Living Harvest Tempt Hempmilk Class Action Lawsuit is Miller, et al. v. Living Harvest Foods Inc., et al., Case No. 2014-2735-CA-01, in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of the State of Florida.