Several of WLF’s past Forbes posts have discussed food labeling class action suits against yogurt makers, including this one on a case against Clover-Stornetta Farms for its allegedly misleading use of the term “evaporated cane juice.” That suit is currently pending in the Food Court Northern District of California.
Another yogurt-related class action suit, this one claiming that the use of milk protein concentrate (MPC) rendered Activa yogurt misbranded, recently reached a welcome end in the Southern District of New York (Conroy v. The Dannon Company, Inc.).
Conroy alleged injury under a number of state common law theories as well as provisions of New York General Business Law. None of those theories or laws are referenced beyond the opinion’s first page; instead, Judge Vincent Briccetti devoted his analysis entirely to whether MPC is an allowable “other optional ingredient” under Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards for “yogurt.” If it wasn’t, Conroy’s claims would no doubt have proceeded.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Forbes