Whole Foods sued over sugar content in yogurt

AlabasterVerve
AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Whole Foods sued over sugar content in yogurt

"The suits seek to represent consumers who bought the yogurt from August 2008 to the present at 13 Whole Foods stores in New Jersey and 10 in Pennsylvania. They allege the sugar content in "Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Plain Greek Yogurt" is more than five times higher than the amount listed on its nutritional label.

The label lists sugar content at two grams per 170 gram serving, but testing has shown 11.4 grams of sugar, according to the suit."

http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/south-jersey/2014/08/12/whole-foods-sued-yogurt/13956977/

Replies

  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
    There's some lawyers with way to much time on their hands
  • fit_abbey
    fit_abbey Posts: 24
    I hate it when a business (store/manufacturer/distributor/restaurant) lies about its food content. Adding more sugar to yogurt makes it taste less tart, and logic says a better tasting food will result in higher sales. So, is what we have here perhaps a company that is altering its food in order to have increased sales (and more profit), at the cost of nutrition to the consumer ??
  • Ringo1812
    Ringo1812 Posts: 18 Member
    I just love it when these companies get caught and yes I agree everyone of them should be sued. If not why wouldn't they all do it in time. No consequences.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    The carb amount was correct though. Anyone with a brain could have figured it out.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    This has been discussed twice before. It was a dumb error for the company not to catch, but anyone who thinks they had real yogurt that was very low sugar (hint, the sugar here is lactose) is a moron and should be embarrassed.
  • shartran
    shartran Posts: 304 Member
    Yes, I get what some of you have said, however if you are quickly 'grabbing' something off the shelf and have a quick peruse of the label and are trying to stay lower than 5 grams of sugar content/serving...it would be miss leading.
  • ahamm002
    ahamm002 Posts: 1,690 Member
    _Zardoz_ wrote: »
    There's some lawyers with way to much time on their hands

    Seriously, here's a quote from the link: "DeNittis Osefchen also has filed other class action lawsuits for consumers, including one against Subway over the length of the "Footlong" sandwich"
  • nicsflyingcircus
    nicsflyingcircus Posts: 2,858 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    This has been discussed twice before. It was a dumb error for the company not to catch, but anyone who thinks they had real yogurt that was very low sugar (hint, the sugar here is lactose) is a moron and should be embarrassed.

    +1000

    Pretty much exactly my response the last time someone posted about this topic.

  • libbydoodle11
    libbydoodle11 Posts: 1,351 Member
    nicsflyingcircus wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    This has been discussed twice before. It was a dumb error for the company not to catch, but anyone who thinks they had real yogurt that was very low sugar (hint, the sugar here is lactose) is a moron and should be embarrassed.

    +1000

    Pretty much exactly my response the last time someone posted about this topic.

    Yep, +1

  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    Only in the US of A.
  • SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish
    SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish Posts: 831 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    This has been discussed twice before. It was a dumb error for the company not to catch, but anyone who thinks they had real yogurt that was very low sugar (hint, the sugar here is lactose) is a moron and should be embarrassed.

    Yes on both counts. But, the company pays for someone to make the label, do the marketing and review this, and they make money off the listing, so they have the responsibility to be accurate. And this is not a "small" company with little money either. Consumers can have drool on their chin and nobody is mislead...if you pay them, its your problem. :P
  • nygrl4evr
    nygrl4evr Posts: 196 Member
    My mother in law has just moved in with us and is diabetic. I am trying to learn what is okay for her to eat and not to eat. I should be able to trust the food labels to be honest so yes they deserved to be sued. Money is the only language these companies understand so those who say lawyers have too much time on their hands, do you really think Whole Foods would have fixed this on their own? I doubt it.
  • libbydoodle11
    libbydoodle11 Posts: 1,351 Member
    I have never once looked at the sugar content of any yogurt. Words ending in o-s-e often imply sugar...
  • hollyk57
    hollyk57 Posts: 520 Member
    stupid-people.jpg
  • mommyrunning
    mommyrunning Posts: 495 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    This has been discussed twice before. It was a dumb error for the company not to catch, but anyone who thinks they had real yogurt that was very low sugar (hint, the sugar here is lactose) is a moron and should be embarrassed.

    It's easy to judge and say consumers should have known but that doesn't alleviate the responsibility of the company to honestly report what is in their product.

    Not every one is educated on nutrition and some may just be learning to read labels. That doesn't make them a moron. It simply means they aren't educated on that subject.

  • Slacker16
    Slacker16 Posts: 1,184 Member
    mommyrunning wrote: »
    It's easy to judge and say consumers should have known but that doesn't alleviate the responsibility of the company to honestly report what is in their product.
    I have to agree with this.

    While I think the suit is rather frivolous, dismissing a complaint about nutritional information on the basis of common sense would create a bad precedent.
  • 50sFit
    50sFit Posts: 712 Member
    AlabasterVerve wrote: »
    Whole Foods sued over sugar content in yogurt

    "The suits seek to represent consumers who bought the yogurt from August 2008 to the present at 13 Whole Foods stores in New Jersey and 10 in Pennsylvania. They allege the sugar content in "Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Plain Greek Yogurt" is more than five times higher than the amount listed on its nutritional label.

    The label lists sugar content at two grams per 170 gram serving, but testing has shown 11.4 grams of sugar, according to the suit."

    http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/south-jersey/2014/08/12/whole-foods-sued-yogurt/13956977/
    I have said it over and over.
    When you're reading labels, how do you really know the product matches those label claims? It's much, much worse when it comes to supplements.
    Jack Lalanne used to say "if man makes it, don't eat it".
    This is why.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfaQo_I7Z_o

  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    Jack Lalanne was before my time but it's uncanny how relevant he still is today. One of my favorites was this "Sugarholics" clip.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9vpPVdewls
  • brewinggirl_butskinnier
    brewinggirl_butskinnier Posts: 108 Member
    You should be able to trust the label, and food/beverage manufacturers should be well aware of what's in the product and the obligation they have (both legally and morally) to match those labels as close as analytically possible.
    If they're not aware of it, they shouldn't be in the business of making and selling food and beverages for other people to eat.

    Granted it's just my opinion however I manage the labs at a large brewery. I fully understand that if I send product out the door that's different than what the label shows, I risk my job, the company's reputation, and if it's egregious enough, prison (TTB). They let this slide for SIX YEARS. It wasn't like oops we had one bad batch. That's willful in my opinion.



  • Unknown
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  • jdhcm2006
    jdhcm2006 Posts: 2,254 Member
    MrM27 wrote: »
    Well I wonder how much they will have to pay out this time. First a ridiculous amount of money for overcharging customers for deli and hot food products due to not accounting for the weight of the container now this.

    Whole Foods.....over rated, over priced for no reason. Just so people can see you shop at Whole Foods like it's some great social status boosting tool. Just dumb.

    Pretty much the bolded. I go to Whole Foods for my job, but if my clients weren't always specifying something that can only be purchased at Whole Foods, I would never go there. It's way overpriced and it's always a madhouse. The only thing I really liked there was the self grind peanut butter, but I have a food processor, so I've been making my own lately, so now I have no reason to go (except for my job).
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited October 2014
    Slacker16 wrote: »
    While I think the suit is rather frivolous, dismissing a complaint about nutritional information on the basis of common sense would create a bad precedent.

    Oh, as a suit it's probably not frivolous, although any damages claim ought to be. I'm reasonably sure there's some kind of statutory liability for labeling mistakes (haven't checked, though), and I don't feel sorry for WF or the company they outsourced this to (that was my point about them being dumb for not catching it). What I find mindboggling is the people who comment on this as if it was some fraud or evidence of hidden sugar in food and all the rest. It's plain yogurt. Of course it has lactose. Lactose is sugar. Anyone who thinks it's some conspiracy about "added sugar" or that someone worried about sugar grams alone should be eating yogurt needs to read a book on nutrition, ideally one not written by Lustig.

    WF is kind of self-righteous (although I like shopping there, shrug, and wasn't aware it was supposed to be status boosting--they just have some things my local TJ's and Jewel don't have and are closer than Mariano's), so I get why others enjoy this story, but most of the commentary about it is pretty silly and suing because your yogurt had lactose in it and you were surprised really ought to embarrass people.
  • fit_abbey
    fit_abbey Posts: 24
    edited October 2014
    Ouch.

    Meanwhile, for those who wonder, here is some info about sugar/lactose content in yogurt:

    "Plain yogurt has no added sugar, yet a 6-ounce container has about 12 grams of naturally-occurring sugar in the form of lactose.
    Fruit-flavored yogurt varies in the amount of sugar added, so it's important that you read the Nutrition Facts panel. On average, the added fruit and sweeteners contribute about 14 grams of sugar, making the total sugars about 26 grams in a 6-ounce container."

    Here is the complaint in the lawsuit:
    "The suits seek to represent consumers who bought the yogurt from August 2008 to the present at 13 Whole Foods stores in New Jersey and 10 in Pennsylvania. They allege the sugar content in "Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Plain Greek Yogurt" is more than five times higher than the amount listed on its nutritional label.The label lists sugar content at two grams per 170 gram serving, but testing has shown 11.4 grams of sugar, according to the suit."

    I like learning new things about food and the nutritional info, it helps me to know where I can down on calories. :)





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