Starbucks Must Face Claims Over ‘Ethically Sourced’ Cocoa Label

Starbucks Corp. must face claims alleging it deceptively advertises hot chocolate as “ethically sourced” despite the use of child slave labor, even though Mars and Quaker Oats won dismissal of similar claims, according to a California federal court ruling.

Specific language in the three companies’ labels account for the different outcomes in the opinion entered Thursday by Judge John W. Holcomb of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Lori Myers alleged Starbucks’ Hot Chocolate, Mars Wrigley Confectionery US LLC’s Dove Dark Chocolate, and Quaker Oats Co.'s Chocolate Chip Chewy Bars were portrayed as produced without child ...