‘Good for You’ Minute Maid Juice Boxes Are Far from Healthy, Class Action Says

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A proposed class action alleges the Coca-Cola Company “exploits and deceptively perpetuates the misperception” that juice is healthy by mislabeling Minute Maid juice boxes as “Good for You!” and “Part of a Healthy, Balanced Diet.” 

If you’re a New York resident who’s bought Minute Maid Fruit Punch in the last three years, let us know here.

The 53-page complaint says that Coca-Cola’s healthy representations are “false and misleading” given that fruit juices have been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome, among other serious chronic conditions. 

The case notes that a six-fluid-ounce serving of a Minute Maid juice box, including the apple, apple white grape, mixed berry, fruit punch and lemonade flavors, contains between 19 and 21 grams of free sugar, constituting nearly all of each box’s calories.

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“Coca-Cola has taken advantage of [consumers’ preference for healthy foods] by marketing the Juice Boxes as healthy options, including by promoting them with health and wellness messages directly on their labeling and packaging,” the filing states. 

When fruit is processed into juice, the fruit’s natural “food matrix,” i.e, the makeup of its molecular components, breaks down and its sugar is concentrated and released, becoming “free sugar” that is more quickly absorbed, the lawsuit explains. Because of the negative health effects linked to the consumption of free sugar, a piece of fruit, while healthy when eaten whole, “is transformed into a decidedly unhealthy food once processed into juice,” the suit says. 

The lawsuit charges that not only is Coca-Cola’s Minute Maid juice box labeling scientifically false, but it’s “especially likely to mislead consumers” given it preys on preexisting notions that juice is healthy amid a “disinformation campaign” backed by Coca-Cola and other industry players about the health effects of sugar. Further, nothing on the juice boxes’ labeling would dispel the claim that the products are healthy, the filing adds. 

“Rather than correct the misconception created by its labeling—that the Juice Boxes are healthy—Defendant continues to leverage consumer confusion to increase its profits, at the expense of consumers’ health,” the suit alleges, claiming Coca-Cola intentionally omits from product labels the detrimental effects of juice consumption. 

The lawsuit looks to cover all persons in the United States who, at any time in the last four years, bought Minute Maid juice boxes for personal or household use and not for resale.

If you’re a New York resident who’s bought Minute Maid Fruit Punch in the last three years, let us know here.