A lawsuit filed Friday against cereal brand Three Wishes claims that the company is misleading customers as to the protein content in their products by failing to show protein count as a corrected daily value.
According to the complaint, the defendant’s products are packaged in a way that leads consumers to believe that they contain elevated protein content through messages like “More protein.” However, the products do not contain “the corrected amount of protein per serving, expressed as a % [daily value].” The plaintiffs say this failure is contrary to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations and mislead consumers into buying the product at a premium price.
The complaint recounts the health benefits of protein, and the desire of consumers to consume protein to support their health. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants fail to use the FDA-required Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid (PDCAA) score, which compensates for the differing values of certain kinds of protein.
“Because of the differences in benefits depending on the amino acid composition of a protein, the source of protein is important…Accordingly, Defendant’s use of low quality proteins means that they actually provide far less protein to humans than the Product labels claim.”
The plaintiff is pleading violations of California state consumer protection statutes , common law fraud, and unjust enrichment. They are seeking certification of a putative class, an injunction blocking sale of the allegedly deceptive products, and damages. They are represented by Gutride Safier.
