Whole Foods Gets Spring Water Arsenic False Ad Suit Narrowed

Whole Foods Market California Inc. and affiliated companies got a Starkey Spring Water consumer suit trimmed, for now, but must face proposed class claims alleging they deceptively portrayed the product as “pure” despite a high arsenic content, a federal judge in California said.

David Berke alleged independent testing by Consumer Reports and the Center for Environmental Health has shown that Whole Foods’ Starkey Water brand contained some of the highest levels of arsenic among bottled waters.

He stated viable claims based on the bottled water marketing, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California said Sept. 18.

Whole ...