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Tropicana orange juice lawsuits question 'natural' status by ferujkll sdff
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Tropicana orange juice lawsuits question 'natural' status |
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Business,Business News,Business Opportunities
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Orange juice maker Tropicana markets its brand as fresh from thegrove, but a series of U.S. lawsuits claim the company's juice isso heavily processed it shouldn't be called "natural." In approximately 20 lawsuits, the first one filed in New Jersey,lawyers claim the company adds chemically engineered "flavourpacks" to its juice, making it taste the same year-round. OnThursday, lawyers will come together in Washington to argue beforea panel of judges about where the lawsuits should be heard as agroup. Tropicana declined to comment but said in a statement that it iscommitted to full compliance with labeling laws and to producing"great-tasting 100 per cent orange juice." 'The whole natural issue is a mess.' Food safety advocate Michael Jacobson The orange juice lawsuits are just the latest disputes over "allnatural" claims.
Over the past several years, a number of majornational brands have been attacked for what consumers have calleddeceptive labeling. Tostitos, SunChips, Snapple and Ben &Jerry's ice cream have all faced similar attacks. The lawsuits have become common enough that the GroceryManufacturers Association, which represents more than 300 food andbeverage makers, had a panel that discussed the topic as part of aconference in February. Lawyers representing food and beveragecompanies have told their clients to be wary. Part of the problem,lawyers agree, is that consumers are looking for healthierproducts, and companies have responded by creating and brandingtheir products as "all natural." The Food and Drug Administration, the agency that oversees packagedfood labeling in the United States, has no definition of whatcounts as "natural." As long as a food labeled "natural" doesn'tcontain added colour, artificial flavour or synthetic substances,the agency doesn't object.
That's not enough guidance, some lawyers said. Fructose content is an issue "The whole natural issue is a mess," said Michael Jacobson, theexecutive director of the Center for Science in the PublicInterest, a Washington-based food safety and advocacy group thathelped get the makers of 7UP and Capri Sun to stop making naturalclaims about their products. Jacobson and others say the FDA's lack of guidance has leftlingering questions. One question has been whether a product with high fructose cornsyrup, which is made by processing corn but does not occurnaturally, can be labeled natural. That was the issue in a 2007lawsuit over Snapple drinks.
Snapple has said it no longer useshigh fructose corn syrup in products marked "all natural," and aNew York judge ultimately ruled in Snapple's favour and closed thecase last year, but other lawsuits are still questioning the use ofthe term. Many "all natural" lawsuits are still in their infancy, said KellieLerner a lawyer who is involved in the orange juice litigation andclosely following "all natural" cases. Lerner said like the orangejuice lawsuit, other similar lawsuits have sought class actionstatus, where one or more consumers sue on behalf of all people whobought the product. The lawsuits could get dismissed or go to trial, but companiescould agree to settle with consumers and offer product vouchers orrebates. Modify their marketing The company that owns Ben & Jerry's and Breyers ice cream, forexample, settled "all natural" lawsuits for $7.5 million earlierthis year, providing customers who bought flavours like "ChubbyHubby" and "Chunky Monkey" cash rebates of up to $20.
The ice creamcompany also agreed to change its packaging, and that's somethinglawyers involved in the orange juice lawsuit want too. "I'd like them to modify their marketing so that consumers can makean informed judgment on their purchases," said Stephen A. Weiss, alawyer involved in one of the lawsuits against Tropicana. The Tropicana lawsuits are partly the result of a 2009 book aboutthe orange juice industry, Alissa Hamilton's "Squeezed: What YouDon't Know About Orange Juice." Hamilton, a doctoral student atYale when she started researching orange juice, spent five yearslearning about the industry, interviewing Tropicana employees,growers, farmers, and others. Hamilton, who has consulted with one of the firms involved in aTropicana lawsuit, said she would like to see Tropicana be clearerin its labeling and stop using words such as "fresh," "natural" and"pure." "It's not simply orange, it's complicated orange," she said.
"I'mjust trying to advocate for more honesty and more transparency.". I am a professional writer from Power Supplies, which contains a great deal of information about painted tv armoire , kids twin beds, welcome to visit!
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