Diet Snapple Peach Tea Drink Mix Contains Undisclosed Artificial Flavor, Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action against Dyla LLC claims the label of the company’s Snapple diet peach tea powdered drink mix is misleading in that it fails to disclose the presence of an artificial flavor.

According to the 13-page case, the front label of the diet Snapple drink mix states that the product is “Naturally Flavored With Other Natural Flavors” yet fails to disclose the presence of dl-malic acid, an artificial flavoring made from petroleum. Per the lawsuit, state and federal food labeling regulations require artificial flavors to be disclosed on a product’s front label.

The case claims consumers would have paid less for the diet Snapple drink mix, or would not have purchased it at all, had they known the product contained artificial malic acid. Per the suit, the value of the drink mix was much less than represented by the defendant given the presence of an artificial flavor.

“Defendant sold more of the Product and at higher prices than it would have in the absence of this misconduct, resulting in additional profits at the expense of consumers,” the complaint alleges.

According to the lawsuit, many consumers look to avoid artificially flavored foods because they consider products made without artificial flavors to be healthier and more environmentally friendly.

The suit says that although the ingredients list for the diet Snapple drink mix states that the product includes “Natural Flavor,” it also lists malic acid, which lends foods a tart, fruity flavor and occurs naturally in fruit but can also be produced synthetically from petroleum. The case claims that laboratory analysis has shown that the variety of malic acid used in the diet Snapple drink mix is dl-malic acid, the synthetic chemical version of the flavoring.

According to the complaint, the defendant used synthetic malic acid in the drink mix because it was cheaper and “more accurately resembled natural peach flavor.”

The lawsuit alleges that the “natural flavors” representation on the front label of the diet Snapple drink mix leads consumers to mistakenly believe that the product contains only natural flavors.

“Consumers are unable to learn the malic acid listed in the ingredients is the artificial version without a chemistry kit,” the complaint attests.

The case looks to cover anyone in Illinois, Michigan, Texas, Arkansas, Delaware, Wyoming, Virginia and Oklahoma who purchased the diet Snapple drink mix within the applicable statute of limitations.

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