Whole Foods Juice Labeling Class Action Survives Motion to Dismiss

A judge has trimmed claims from a class action lawsuit alleging the labeling of Freshbev juice sold by Whole Foods Market Group Inc. as “fresh” is confusing.

The judge dismissed the plaintiff’s common law fraud claim and claim for injunctive relief.

However, the judge allowed certain labeling claims regarding the use of “unpasteurized,” “cranberry apple,” and “fresh” to proceed.

Plaintiff Gerard Campbell says he purchased several Freshbev juices at a Whole Foods store.

He claims he paid a premium for the juices based on several misrepresentations: that the juices were unpasteurized, that they were cold-pressed, that the juices were fresh and that the Cranberry Apple juice product contained more cranberry juice than apple juice.

Campbell initially filed the Whole Foods juice labeling class action lawsuit in 2016, and filed a third amended complaint in September.

He claims that it is misleading to label the juices as unpasteurized because they are made using high pressure processing, which he alleges is the same process as pasteurization.

The Whole Foods class action lawsuit also accuses the defendants of fraud because the labels do not indicate that the products are unpasteurized.

In October, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the Whole Foods juice labeling class action lawsuit and attempted to persuade the court that Campbell lacked Article III standing to bring claims for fraud and injunctive relief.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Frederic Block found that Campbell had standing to bring the fraud claim but did not provide sufficient evidence to show that failing to label a product as unpasteurized constituted a misrepresentation.

Judge Block found that Campbell adequately supported his claim that the Freshbev Cranberry Apple juice product was mislabeled because it contains more apples than cranberries and that guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration states that blended juice products must have a name that reflects the main ingredient.

“Because it violates FDA labeling requirements, a reasonable consumer may be misled into believing that Cranberry Apple juice has more cranberry juice than apple,” Judge Block wrote in the order.

Judge Block agreed with Campbell’s assertion that the term “fresh” as a descriptor for the juice products could be misleading to consumers because the juices were made using high pressure processing.

“In this context, juice treated with [high pressure processing] cannot be described as fresh because juice is sold both with and without processing, so the term ‘fresh’ would imply that the juice is unprocessed,” Judge Block wrote.

The judge disagreed with Campbell’s argument that the term “cold-pressed” on the label was misleading because the label did not include an “only” or “exclusively” modifier before the term “cold-pressed.”

He found that the “unpasteurized” claim could stand as it pertains to the cranberry juice product because the label on that product did not include a disclaimer that the product had been treated with pressure.

Campbell is represented by Joshua Levin-Epstein of Levin-Epstein & Associates PC and Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates PC.

The Whole Foods Juice Labeling Class Action Lawsuit is Gerard Campbell v. Freshbev LLC, et al., Case No. 1:16-cv-07119, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.