Consumer Files Class Actions Alleging ‘Natural’ Workout Supplements Are Falsely Advertised

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A San Diego consumer has filed five proposed class actions against the makers of several workout supplements, alleging the products are falsely marketed as clean and naturally flavored.

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The plaintiff’s lawsuits center respectively on Mutant GEAAR essential amino acid powder, PEScience Versalyte, Muscle Feast 8-Hour Energy Pre-Workout, Keto K1000 powders and 1st Phorm Ultra Performance Hydration Sticks, products touted as “clean,” “natural” and “naturally flavored” despite containing DL malic acid, a synthetic flavoring chemical.

According to the cases, an overwhelming number of consumers are willing to pay more for foods with “clean label” attributes, including statements like “No artificial ingredients” or “All-natural.” The lawsuits allege defendants Fit Foods Distribution Inc.; Performance Enhancing Supplements LLC (doing business as PEScience); Muscle Feast, LLC; Livwell Products, LLC (doing business as Adapted Nutrition); and 1st Phorm International, LLC have sought to capitalize on this growing consumer trend by selling workout supplements tagged with “clean labels,” even though the products at issue are all artificially flavored.

For instance, the front label of GEAAR essential amino acid powder says the product contains “No Synthetic Flavors,” while PEScience Versalyte is marked as “Naturally Flavored,” and Muscle Feast 8-Hour Energy Pre-Workout is prominently labeled as “All Natural” and “All Natural Flavored – Sweetened – Colored,” the filings relay. The front label of Keto K1000 powder similarly purports that the supplement is made with “Nothing Artificial” and “Clean Ingredients,” and 1st Phorm Ultra Performance Hydration Sticks are likewise labeled as “Naturally Flavored,” the cases add.

Moreover, the front labels of PEScience Versalyte and Ultra Performance Hydration Sticks include depictions of fruits “to reinforce the claim that the Products are flavored using only natural sources,” the suits say.

The complaints contend that the defendants’ representations are ultimately “false and misleading” since the products contain an artificial ingredient manufactured from chemical compounds used in gasoline and lighter fluid. Per the lawsuits, the defendants misleadingly refer to this component as “malic acid” on the products’ ingredient lists, rather than by its more specific name “DL malic acid.”

“While there is a naturally occurring form of malic acid, it is extremely expensive to formulate in large quantities and is almost never used in mass-produced food products,” the cases expand. “Instead, testing by an independent third-party laboratory has confirmed that the malic acid that Defendant[s] use[] in these Products is DL malic acid, a synthetic substance derived from petrochemicals.”

Per the lawsuits, DL malic acid is used to simulate the sweet and tart tastes associated with the fruit flavors advertised on the supplements’ front labels. Federal regulations require companies to accurately describe the source of a product’s characterizing flavors “in boldface print on the front display panel,” the cases relay.

The filings claim the defendants have also failed to comply with federal law stipulating that a food product’s front and back labels must disclose the presence of any artificial flavor that “simulates, resembles or reinforces” the characterizing taste.

The plaintiff claims he would not have bought the supplements, or would have paid far less for them, had he known the products were misbranded and mislabeled. 

The lawsuits looks to cover anyone in California who purchased Mutant GEAAR essential amino acid powders, PEScience Versalyte, Muscle Feast 8-Hour Energy Pre-Workout, Keto K1000 powders or 1st Phorm Ultra Performance Hydration Sticks within the past four years.

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