Class Action Filed Over Tropicana’s ‘Essentials’ Probiotics Beverage

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Tropicana Products, Inc. is the defendant in a proposed class action focused on allegations that the very name of its Tropicana Essentials Probiotic product is misleading to consumers. Put simply, the suit alleges probiotics are not, in fact, essential.

The lawsuit out of New York argues that Tropicana’s labeling of the fruit-flavored beverage as “essential” leads consumers to believe it’s chock full of nutrients, vitamins and minerals. According to the suit, though, probiotics “are neither nutrients, vitamins or minerals,” and therefore not essential.

Moreover, the case states Tropicana’s Essentials Probiotic drink “contains between 27 and 37 grams of sugar per serving,” almost as much as a can of soda. The suit alleges that Tropicana’s reason behind adding probiotics to the drink “was to make otherwise non-appealing fruit juice more desirable.”

“The label represents that probiotics are present in a significant quantity such that they will have a beneficial restorative, ameliorative, nutritional or physiological effect, when this is literally false,” the case reads.