Naked Whey Accused of Deceptive Claims About Protein in Products

Naked Whey Inc. was hit with a proposed class action in federal district court in California alleging that the company deceptively advertised, labeled, and sold their vegan protein powder products as containing more protein than they actually do.

Citing the rise in protein-based regimens including the Keto and Paleo diets, the complaint filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of California underscored the rising trend among Americans to reach for protein products to achieve their fitness and health goals.

But Naked Whey, which makes such products as Naked PB and Naked Pea, deceived and misled consumers over the last four years, named plaintiff Carol Valenta said in the suit.

“Consumers such as Plaintiff who viewed the Products’ labels reasonably understood the Products to contain a specific amount of fully bio-available, high-quality protein, comprising a specific percentage of the Recommended Daily Value of protein,” the complaint said. “These representations were false.”

The complaint against Naked Whey, which does business as Naked Nutrition, is one of several largely unsuccessful consumer suits targeted at allegedly deceptive claims about the protein content of their products. Iovate Health Sciences USA Inc. escaped similar claims over its “100% Mass Gain” product in March, while Alpha Prime Supplements—owned by stock car driver Caesar Bacarella—got a suit over the company’s protein brownie bites dismissed in January.

Kellogg Co. and unit Kashi Co. also previously prevailed on appeal in separate consumer cases over the protein content of their Morningstar veggie burgers and breakfast cereals.

Protein is made up of dozens of amino acids created by animals and plants that impact the quality of the product, Valenta’s complaint said. When protein contains all nine amino acids that aren’t created by the human body, it is considered higher quality than those proteins without.

According to the complaint, the US Food and Drug Administration has developed a Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) to measure that quality. Using the amount of amino acids present and the percent digestibility together, the PDCAAS is multiplied by the total protein quality to show consumers the amount of protein is actually in a product.

Manufacturers aren’t required to report the percentage of the FDA’s Recommended Daily Values (%DRV) provided by consuming a product, the suit said, but if a product shows the protein content in terms of %DRV, then the label also must show the PDCAAS because plant based protein quantities aren’t the same quality and thus don’t get as close to achieving the Recommended Daily Value even if they’re higher quality.

Naked Whey didn’t report the necessary PDCAAS correlated with the %DRV, the complaint said.

Valenta, who brought claims for unjust enrichment, breach of express warranty, and violation of California consumer law, is seeking to represent a class of all California consumers who bought Naked Whey products within the four years preceding the complaint. She’s asking for actual, compensatory, or statutory damages; injunctive relief; and attorneys’ fees and costs.

Naked Whey didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Charles C. Weller APC represents Valenta.

The case is Valenta v. Naked Whey, Inc., S.D. Cal., No. 3:25-cv-01543, complaint filed 6/17/25.