Reed’s Soda Buyer Stated Viable ‘Natural’ Deception Claims

A New York consumer stated viable claims that Reed’s Inc. deceptively portrayed soda as “all-natural” and containing “no preservatives” despite being made with the preservative citric acid, a federal court in the state said.

Although citric acid occurs naturally in citrus fruit, Denise Mason alleges the citric acid used in the Reed’s products is industrially produced using a strain of black mold fungus, and has synthetic solvent residue. The Food and Drug Administration has identified citric acid produced in this fashion as synthetic, she alleges.

Mason stated plausibly that the label was false and misleading, Judge John G. Koeltl of ...