McDonald’s Lawsuit Alleges ‘Sugar Free’ Vanilla Lattes, Iced Coffees Contain Substantial Amounts of Sugar

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A little over a month after a Starbucks lawsuit accused the coffee shop chain of misrepresenting certain protein beverages as “sugar free,” a new proposed class action lawsuit similarly alleges that McDonald’s has falsely advertised certain McCafé coffee beverages as “sugar free” given that each drink contains between two and 18 grams of sugar per large serving.

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The 56-page McDonald’s class action lawsuit contends that the fast-food giant has falsely and misleadingly designated eight McCafé coffee beverages as “sugar free” to appeal to health-conscious consumers. Per the complaint, the amounts of sugar per serving in the McCafé drinks at issue are well above the 0.5-gram maximum amount of sugar per reference amount customarily consumed (RACC) and per labeled serving permitted under federal food-labeling regulations for products labeled “sugar free.”

The beverages at issue in the McDonald’s lawsuit include the “Sugar Free” McCafé hot and iced vanilla/French vanilla lattes, vanilla/French vanilla cappuccinos, and iced vanilla/French vanilla coffees.

Related Reading: Starbucks Lawsuit Claims “Sugar-Free” Protein Beverages Contain Substantial Amounts of Sugar

According to the complaint, each purportedly sugar-free McDonald’s coffee drink contains dairy in the form of milk or cream, which both contain lactose, a naturally occurring sugar that the FDA has “unambiguously” codified in its list of total sugars that must be considered when determining whether a food or beverage can be lawfully labeled “sugar free.” The McCafé beverages at issue contain anywhere from 2.2 to 19.9 times the 0.5-gram maximum level permitted per RACC and four to 36 times the maximum limit per large serving under FDA guidelines, the lawsuit states.

The complaint alleges that McDonald’s deliberately chose to incorporate the misleading “sugar free” descriptor into the names of the beverages because it is the first, and most prominent, representation that consumers rely upon when making a purchasing decision.

“McDonald’s cannot rehabilitate the literally false and misleading names of the [‘Sugar Free’ Beverages] by claiming that a consumer who went looking beyond these representations could have found the truth elsewhere,” the lawsuit charges.

The case adds that McDonald’s does not display the sugar content of the beverages on its in-store or drive-through display menus, nor does the fast-food chain attach nutritional labels to the McCafé drinks.

Further, the filing argues that even if the products had less than 0.5 grams of sugar per RACC and per labeled serving, McDonald’s still could not legally describe them as sugar-free. Generally, consumers reasonably expect that products free from sugar and sweeteners contain fewer calories than those without the “sugar free” designation, and per FDA guidelines, products described as “sugar free” must include a statement such as “low calorie” or, in the case of the McCafé beverages, a disclaimer such as “not a reduced calorie food” or “not for weight control.”

The lawsuit says that by displaying the sugar-free claim without the required disclosures, the restaurant has deceived consumers twice, first by claiming that the beverages do not contain sugar and, second, by implying that the products are low-calorie or reduced-calorie beverages.

The complaint says that in October 2026, Starbucks was hit with a proposed class action lawsuit in United States District Court for the Western District of Washington over allegations that its “sugar free” beverages contained between 13 and 21 grams of sugar per venti-sized serving.

Importantly, the suit claims that after the filing of the Starbucks class action lawsuit, which received significant media attention, McDonald’s began to hastily remove “sugar free” from the coffee beverages’ names and replace it with the term “reduced sugar.” This “hurried renaming scheme” illustrates McDonald’s awareness that the prior names were false and misleading, the suit alleges.

The McDonald’s class action lawsuit looks to cover all individuals in the United States who purchased one or more “Sugar Free” McCafé beverages for personal, family, or household use from three years prior to the filing of the complaint through the date of class certification.

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