For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s Myth of Natural page.

While POM Wonderful’s Supreme Court victory over Coca-Cola doesn’t have any direct impact on the wave of consumer class action lawsuits over false advertising engulfing the trade, it still makes uncomfortable reading for regulatory affairs bosses at food and beverage companies, says attorneys.

David Biderman, a partner in Perkins Coie’s Consumer Class Action Defense practice, was speaking to FoodNavigator-USA after the Supreme Court said POM can sue Coke under the Lanham Act (unfair competition) for allegedly misleading consumers with its Minute Maid pomegranate blueberry juice labels – even if they comply with FDA regs (click HERE)

It was pretty stunning really

He said:
“This means that you have no safe harbor, no protection from this type of competitor lawsuit, even if your labels are fully compliant with very specific FDA labeling regulations, as was the case here [Coke complied with federal regulations governing juice labels].

“It was pretty stunning really. They basically said, FDA [compliant]
or not, you’re fair game.”

Arnold Friede, senior food and drug attorney with Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A. in Miami, added:
“Wow. I’ve hardly ever seen a Supreme Court Opinion that was so clear, direct, and conclusive. Compliance with FDA labeling requirements becomes, in effect, a floor, and in no sense a ceiling.

“One key implication is that food companies must take care to consider the overall message communicated by the label as a whole and not merely stand on isolated aspects that might be compliant with FDA rules.”