Kashi to Pay $5 Million to Settle 'All Natural' False Advertising Claims

Do you have any pyridoxine hydrochloride in your pantry? How about some alpha-tocopherol acetate?

If you typically purchase Kashi cereals, breakfast bars, cookies or entrees, then you might have these perplexing ingredients and many others hiding in your pantry inside packaging that touts the products as being “all natural” or containing “nothing artificial.” But can these products really be sold under such claims?

According to FDA policy, a product is not “natural” if it contains synthetic or artificial ingredients.

Many shoppers don’t pause to read ingredient labels on the food they’re purchasing, but rely on a company’s description of its product, which, according to recent lawsuits, may be misleading or false. Fortunately, shoppers are becoming savvy to the ways of these companies and their legal rights, and are starting to take action. Take Michael Bates, for instance. He was the plaintiff in a lawsuit against Kashi that alleged almost all of the company’s products contain ingredients that are processed, synthetic or artificial, despite being labeled “natural.”

This week, Kashi agreed to settle that lawsuit for $5 million, and under the agreement, the company will be required to remove these allegedly misleading claims from some of its products and provide reimbursement to customers in California.

What Are the Federal Regulations for the Term “Natural”?

According to FDA policy, a product is not “natural” if it contains synthetic or artificial ingredients. (The term natural should not be confused with organic, though.

Synthetic ingredients are substances that are “formulated or manufactured by a chemical process or by a process that chemically changes a substance extracted from naturally occurring plant, animal or mineral sources,” according to the Organic Food Production Act.

Similarly, artificial ingredients are considered those which are “not derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof,” according to the FDA’s regulations on food labeling.

How Does this Apply to Kashi Products?

In the lawsuit, the plaintiff alleged that almost all of Kashi’s products contain either artificial or synthetic ingredients, even though they were labeled as “all natural” or containing “nothing artificial.”

For example, Kashi’s “All Natural” GoLean Shakes are allegedly “composed almost entirely of synthetic and unnaturally processed ingredients” including sodium molybdate, a chemically-altered form of the mineral element sodium and phytonadione, a synthetically-produced form of vitamin K.

Moreover, the primary ingredients in many Kashi products are allegedly artificial and/or synthetic. According to the lawsuit, Kashi’s “Nothing Artificial” Heart to Heart Honey Oat Waffles, for example, contain more leavening (allegedly consisting of three artificial ingredients: sodium bicarbonate, monocalcium phosphates and sodium acid pyrophosphate, the latter of which is produced using thermally-produced phosphoric acid, an environmental pollutant) than the “Seven Whole Grains & Sesame Flour” advertised on the packaging. Calling products “natural” when they contain artificial ingredients such as sodium acid pyrophosphate not only misleads consumers, but it also denies them the benefit of supporting an industry that contributes to environmental sustainability, according to the suit.

On its website, Kashi even provides shoppers with an “Ingredient Decoder,” which is designed to help consumers “figure out what’s real on ingredient labels” by rating ingredients with either a “thumbs-up” or “thumbs-down” depending on whether Kashi would use the ingredient in question. According to the lawsuit, Kashi included xanthan gum on this list and gave it a “thumbs-down,” explaining that it is “processed using petrochemicals”; however, some of Kashi’s cereal bars, pizzas and dinner entrees contain the same ingredient.

What Does the Settlement Provide?

Under the settlement, Kashi must remove the “all natural” label from products containing:

• Pyridoxine hydrochloride: a form of vitamin B6 that can be produced synthetically
• Calcium pantothenate: a form of vitamin B5 that can be produced through fermentation
• Hexane-processed soy ingredients

The company must also remove the “nothing artificial” label from products with:

• Alpha-tocopherol acetate: a form of vitamin E that can be produced synthetically
• Pyridoxine hydrochloride: a form of vitamin B6 that can be produced synthetically
• Hexane-processed soy ingredients

Additionally, California residents who purchased Kashi products containing the ingredients listed above can submit claims to collect a portion of the $5 million settlement fund. With proof of purchase, shoppers are entitled to $0.50 per product, without a limit as to how many products they can claim. Without a receipt, consumers are entitled to the same amount per product with a maximum recovery of $25 per household.

With the settlement removing these “all natural” and “nothing artificial” claims from certain Kashi products, we are all a little closer to knowing exactly what’s in the food we eat; however, the agreement does not force Kashi to remove these unnatural ingredients, so shoppers should continue to use discretion when purchasing packaged foods, even if the company says its products contain ingredients “found in kitchens like yours.”