Lawsuit Claims Buyers Misled by Maeda-En ‘Vanilla’ Mochi Ice Cream Label

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A proposed class action claims the packaging of Maeda-En “vanilla” mochi ice cream is misleading in that it fails to disclose that the product’s flavor is derived from artificial, non-vanilla sources.

The 17-page lawsuit out of New York claims defendant G.T. Japan, Inc. has deceived consumers by failing to disclose on the front label of its mochi ice cream that the product’s “vanilla” taste is derived from artificial vanillin, and not genuine vanilla beans. As the suit tells it, the source of a product’s vanilla flavor is a material factor consumers consider when deciding whether to make a purchase.

“Plaintiff and Class Members purchased the Product because they reasonably believed it was flavored only with natural ingredients like vanilla and did not contain artificial flavors,” the complaint states.

Per the case, consumers would not have purchased the mochi ice cream, or would have paid less for it, had they known the truth about its ingredients.

Vanillin is a major component of vanilla extract that has a “chemical-like” taste and odor when isolated from the other molecules in vanilla, the lawsuit says. Although vanillin can be extracted from a natural source, i.e., vanilla beans, these methods are “seldom used,” and vanillin is more commonly derived from petroleum (guaiacol), lignin (tree pulp), eugenol or ferulic acid through chemical processes and is therefore usually “required to be declared as an artificial flavor,” the suit relays.

Moreover, food labeling regulations for ice cream require that flavors derived from natural sources other than the characterizing flavor and “simulate, resemble or reinforce” that flavor, in this case vanilla, are considered artificial flavors, the lawsuit reads.

“This means that any flavor from a non-vanilla bean source is considered an artificial flavor in vanilla ice cream,” the complaint states.

According to the lawsuit, analytical testing has revealed the defendant’s “vanilla” mochi ice cream contains vanillin from non-vanilla sources. The suit says the test shows that the amount of vanillin in the mochi was “significantly greater” than it would be had real vanilla extract been used and that other flavoring components from the vanilla plant were notably absent. Per the case, the absence of other aromatic compounds normally found in real vanilla indicates that the mochi ice cream contains “at most, a trace or de minimis amount of vanilla.”

The lawsuit goes on to argue that the product’s ingredients list inaccurately describes the vanillin component as “natural flavor” instead of more accurately stating the “specific, non-generic” term, i.e., “vanillin” or “artificial flavor.”

Per the case, a reasonable consumer who read the mochi ice cream’s ingredients list would be unable to verify whether the product contained an artificial flavor, a fact that the suit says should have been stated on the dessert’s front label.

The defendant, according to the suit, misrepresented its mochi ice cream product through “affirmative statements, half-truths, and omissions.”

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