Member’s Mark Joint Health Supplements Contain Less Turmeric, Curcumin Than Advertised, Class Action Claims

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A proposed class action claims Sam's Club has misled consumers by falsely advertising that certain Member’s Mark joint health supplements provide 500 milligrams of turmeric and curcumin per serving.

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The 12-page lawsuit says that representations on the supplement’s front and back labels give consumers the impression that the capsules contain 95 percent, or 475 milligrams, of curcuminoids, the major components of turmeric, per serving.

Despite these representations—in particular that the supplements contain 500 milligrams of “standardized extract” of “turmeric curcumin complex,” and that they include “95% Standardized Turmeric (Curcuma longa) Extract”—testing by ConsumerLab.com in 2019 revealed that the products actually contained only 9.7 milligrams of curcuminoids per serving—a far cry from the 475 milligrams touted to consumers.

According to the filing, the supplement is misleadingly represented in that reasonable consumers would expect a product advertised as containing 500 milligrams of turmeric and curcumin—a compound found in turmeric—and “95% Standardized Turmeric (Curcuma longa) Extract” to provide at least 475 milligrams of curcuminoids per serving.

Further, lab testing reported that the precise extract used in the product—identified in the ingredients list as “CurcuWIN Turmeric Extract”—consists of only 20 percent curcuminoids, the case relays.

“If the Product contains CurcuWIN, as listed in the Ingredients, the extract cannot also be ‘95% Standardized Turmeric (Curcuma longa) Extract,’ as listed in the Supplement Facts,” the complaint charges.

The plaintiff, a Tennessee resident, has purchased the joint health supplements several times and believed that the products contained at least 475 milligrams of curcuminoids per serving, the lawsuit says. The man paid a premium price for the supplements—roughly $14.88 for 250 capsules—and would not have done so if he had known they contained vastly less turmeric and curcumin than was advertised, the suit claims.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana or Tennessee who purchased Member’s Mark “turmeric curcumin complex” joint health supplements within the applicable statutes of limitations period.

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