Naked Juice Products Using GMOs

I recently ran across this article - Naked Juice Faces Class Action Lawsuit for Using GMOs and Synthetic Substances in it's "Non-GMO" and "All-Natural" Products

Sadly, I am not one bit suprised by this news. I have been convinced for a while that many companies who "claim" to be offering "All Natural" and non-GMO products have been lying to consumers. Why wouldn't they? The FDA has not been able to establish a definition for the term "All Natural".  According to the USDA, “natural” means food that “contains no artificial ingredients or added colors and is minimally processed.” Which should be pretty clear, but obviously these companies have their own version of "All Natural". It has become a game of "Catch Me If You Can" for many of these companies and the odds are in their favor. Make no mistake, labeling items "All Natural" is nothing more than marketing hype and another way for food manufacturers to fool you into spending your dollars on their products.

These companies are violating the law by using GMOs and synthethic ingredients in their products, but...who's checking???? Certainly not the FDA who would like nothing better than for these products and the companies who make them to quietly go away. It is not in the FDA's best interest for these companies to survive, much less thrive, and if they are lying to consumers and using their friend Monsanto's GMO ingredients, so much the better.

Dare I mention that what Naked Juice (Wesson Oil, Kashi and Santa Cruz) is doing is fraud? And blatant fraud at that. Hopefully, this lawsuit will wake companies up to the fact that they cannot lie to consumers and get away with it. We as consumers need to be more prudent with our purchasing dollars. Right now, the only way we can vote is with our money. We must put companies and the FDA on alert that we will not be lied to any longer, that we will not accept GMO food and that we have the right to know what is being put into our food!

Following is the article from Max Goldberg with his comments. Please let me know what you think.

The lawsuits against industrial food companies just keep piling up. First, it was Wesson Oils who got sued for using GMOs in its products that the company claimed were “100% Natural”. Then, Kashi got sued for using prescription drugs, irradiated substances, pesticides that are a by-product of uranium mining, and federally declared hazardous substances in products that it claimed were “All-Natural” and contained “Nothing Artificial”.

Now, here comes a class action lawsuit against Naked Juice (owned by PepsiCo) for using genetically-modified ingredients and synthetic substances in products that were marketed as “Non-GMO” and “All-Natural”.

Highlights of the Naked Juice lawsuit accuse the company of:
1) Labeling its products as "Non-GMO” when, in fact, it knowingly used genetically-modified ingredients in its products.
2) False and misleading labeling of its products as “100% Juice”, “100% Fruit” and “All Natural” when the products contained many different synthetic ingredients and synthetic fibers such as:
* Fibersol-2 — a proprietary synthetic digestion-resistant fiber produced by Archer Daniels Midland and developed by a Japanese chemical company.
* Fructooligosaccharides — a synthetic fiber and sweetener.
* Inulin — an artificial and invisible fiber added to foods to artificially increase fiber content with the typical fiber mouth-feel.
3) Intentionally misleading and deceiving its customers.

Max says - In my view, the allegations in the Naked Juice lawsuit are much, much worse than the Kashi and ConAgra ones. Why? The legal crackdown on the use the term “natural” is something that is only now taking place. While companies may absolutely be violating the law by using GMOs and synthetic substances in products that they claim to be “all-natural”, the legal precedent has not been set yet. It soon will be.
Furthermore, since our government has done nothing to truly clarify and enforce what “natural” means, major food companies have been dancing around the issue hoping not to get caught. That party is coming to an end. However, with the Naked Juice lawsuit, the company is being accused of using GMOs when it states that its products are “Non-GMO”.
If proven true, this is blatant fraud and deception. No legal education or chemistry background is needed to tell you that this is clearly illegal. What makes matters worse is the packaging of Naked Juice products and how it sells the promise of something incredibly wholesome and healthy.
As I have stated before, this is only a major positive for the organic industry and for all consumers.

The more people that realize “natural” means very little, the more they will gravitate towards organic, where there are standards, enforcement and regulation.

To read the full legal complaint, click HERE (PDF file).

This post was shared on Fight Back Fridays and Real Food Wednesday.

SOURCE: Max Goldberg