TAMPA, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - Adding healthy ingredients to hard seltzers and kombuchas misleads consumers into thinking they can avoid the negative effects of alcohol, a class action lawsuit says.
Plaintiff Christina Van Allen sued Fermented Sciences on Aug. 15 in Tampa, Fla., federal court. The company makes hard seltzers and hard kombuchas under the Flying Embers brand.
To stand out from other products, the company adds probiotics, antioxidants like vitamin C and adaptogens to its drinks.
"Studies have shown that vitamin-fortified snack foods influence consumers to make negative diet-related decisions by making them less likely to look at the nutrition facts, more likely to purchase the fortified products, more likely to think the fortified product is healthier than a comparable nonfortified product, and more likely to incorrectly identify the fortified product as the healthier product," the suit says.
The misleading presentation of the drinks violates the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, the suit says.
Attorneys Will Wright and Spencer Sheehan are pursuing the case.