Giant Eagle gets pulled into legal fight over probiotic yogurt - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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Last week, a class action lawsuit was filed againsttthe O’Hara-based grocery chain in the United States Districr Court of Northern Ohio, alleging claimsw of deceptive trade practices, amon others. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Cleveland woman who says she boughrGiant Eagle’s Probiotic Lowfat Yogurt with the expectation that it would improved her immune system only to be defrauded by a higher-priced produc whose health benefits remain highly speculative. The suit seeke unspecified damages that include restitution for the saleas of the productsin question, as well as punitivew damages, corrective advertising and attorneys’ fees and costs. Lawye Frank Piscitelli Jr.
filed the suit May 6, arguing that Gianft Eagle’s product claim that its yogurtis “clinicallhy proven to help strengthen the body’se immune system” is neithet proven nor substantiated. The class actio n claim was made on behalf of anyone who bough tGiant Eagle’s probiotic yogurt, a numbert the suit expects would includs thousands of customers. “It all boils down to whethere they have substantiation behindtheier claims,” Piscitelli said. “If you’re going to say something is clinically proven, then it better be.
” The lawsui against Giant Eagle is the latest legal actio taken against the burgeoning industry ofprobiotic yogurt, what one naturapl food products trade publication callefd the “uncontested star” among functional foods, growinhg from a $6.8 billion market in 2003 to $13.7 billion in salezs last year. A company spokesman for Giantt Eagle declined comment on an active for which the company has yet tolegally respond. The companyt pulled its probiotic yogurt from store shelvesa prior to the suit becauss of a lack of customer In January, a simila class action suit was filed against industry leader Dannon, whose Activiaw probiotic yogurt is perhaps the best known.
In a lawsuit was filled againstt GeneralMills Inc., alleging the company’s claimzs for its Yo-Plus probiotic yogurf also were largely unproven. Both casezs are still in General Mills quicklydefended itself, arguing the named plaintiffr was not representative of a clase and lacked standing to pursue a class action, among many other The class action lawsuit against Giant Eagle argues the grocer y store chain uses “clinically as a marketing term in a food categoryt that has yet to see serious scientific The lawsuit cites an American Academy of Microbiology symposium that concludes that probiotic bacteria used in food need random, controllex clinical trials to verify their health benefits.
Tim Blood, a San Diego-based lawyer who is part of the legal team in the Giant Eagle case as well as the ones againstt Dannon and GeneralMills , said yogurt, in is healthy. But, he said, probiotic yogurtes don’t live up their claims, can disrupr the digestive balance of some consumers and delay some from seekintg medical attention fordigestive problems. “The food in general, is selling hundreds of million of dollars ofthis product, probablt into the billions,” he describing it as the next food “The problem with a lot of the probiotic products out there on the market is there is no evidenced they do anything at all.
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