Fairlife ‘Natural’ Vanilla Claims Advance in Protein Drink Suit

Fairlife LLC must keep facing a proposed class action challenging the labeling of vanilla shakes, following a California federal court ruling that a consumer plausibly alleged he was misled into thinking the flavor came from natural vanilla.

Mohammad Javed alleged that the Coca-Cola Co. unit deceptively portrayed its Core Power Elite high-protein drinks by labeling them with the words “vanilla” and “natural flavors” in large type, and including images of vanilla plants. Analytic chemical testing showed that the bulk of the flavor came from synthetic vanillin, he said.

Fairlife argued that Javed’s complaint suggests only that consumers would interpret the ...