Cargill Agrees To Settle 'Natural' Sweetener Lawsuit

Cargill, the maker of Truvia sweetener, has agreed to pay $5 million and to update the product’s labeling in order to prevent a nationwide class action lawsuit from continuing. The putative suit was brought over the company’s use of "natural" when advertising the sweetener, which is derived from stevia. Truvia contains genetically modified corn and highly chemical processed ingredients, plaintiffs alleged, and the company’s use of the ‘natural’ claim was misleading.

It continues to deny that the labels or adverts on Truvia products were designed to mislead.

In February, Molly Martin filed a complaint against the company that accused it of misleading customers over the nature of its sweetener, which has the tagline "Nature’s calorie-free sweetener." In agreeing to settle, the company will provide customers who bought the product with vouchers for Truvia. They will also direct customers to an updated FAQs page on their website detailing in far more detail how stevia is processed. Information will also be provided about the additive erythritol.

The current tagline will also be altered, either with an asterisked link to the FAQs or a rewording to remove to use of "natural" or "nature".

The company was quick to state, however, that the settlement is being entered into in order to remove "uncertainty, distraction, burden, and expense", and it continues to deny that the labels or adverts on Truvia products were designed to mislead.

This is not the first lawsuit Cargill has faced over Truvia’s branding as a natural alternative to sugar. A Hawaii resident, Denise Howerton, filed a putative class action back in July accusing the company of false marketing, as reported here. The complaint took issue with the percentage of stevia-derived Rebaudioside A (Reb A) found in Truvia, as well as the use of the artificial sweetener erythritol, which is manufactured by the company. Molly Martin’s recent case, filed in Minnesota, was dropped without prejudice before settlement negotiations began, although a California-resident soon contacted the company notifying them of a separate draft complaint being brought under the state’s consumer protection laws.

The ensuing mediation led to the current settlement. The complaint noted that Truvia is now the second most popular sweetener in the country. Lawyers for the company have moved to stay the Hawaii suit pending the settlement’s approval, arguing that this recent development renders the older complaint irrelevant.

The case was heard in the U.S. District Court for Minnesota.