Lawsuit Puts The Squeeze On Tropicana Orange Juice's Claim Of 100% Natural

Consumers don’t like juiced up claims of natural ingredients, which is why one California woman is suing Tropicana’s parent company over its claims that their orange juice is “100% pure and natural.”

The plaintiff alleges that Tropicana, a unit of PepsiCo Inc, puts its Pure Premium juice through extensive processing, altering its “essential nature” and rendering it not completely natural in exchange for a longer shelf life, reports Reuters.

The federal lawsuit says consumers “want and demand natural products” and Tropicana is deceiving them through advertising and packaging.

“While Tropicana claims that ‘making Tropicana orange juice is truly an art’ it is far more a science,” said the complaint filed on Friday in Sacramento, California. “The resulting product does not taste like fresh squeezed orange juice.”

Tropicana touts its Pure Premium option as having 16 fresh-picked oranges squeezed into every 59 ounces of juice. They said in a statement that Tropicana “remains committed to offering great-tasting 100 percent orange juice with no added sugars or preservatives. We take the faith that consumers place in our products seriously and are committed to full compliance with labeling laws and regulations.”

What’s in that OJ? Tropicana is sued [Reuters]

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