http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/content/view/print/379316
A class action lawsuit brought against Coca-Cola by advocacy group The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) over Coke’s VitaminWater range is set to go to mediation, FoodNavigator-USA has learned.
The lawsuit , which was filed in 2009 and brought together class actions in New Jersey, New York and California, alleged that Coca-Cola had misled consumers over the health benefits of VitaminWater.
Coca-Cola immediately filed a motion to dismiss the suit, which was rejected last summer.
Federal judge John Gleeson of the US District Court in Brooklyn also rejected Coca-Cola’s argument that by listing the sugar content of VitaminWater in the nutrition panel it could not be accused of misleading consumers: “The fact that the actual sugar content of VitaminWater was accurately stated in a Food and Drug Administration-mandated label on the product does not eliminate the possibility that reasonable consumers may be misled.”
Meanwhile, the description of the product as a ‘vitamin-enhanced water beverage’ and the phrases ‘vitamins + water = all you need’ also had “the potential to reinforce a consumer’s mistaken belief that the product is comprised of only vitamins and water,” added Gleeson.