Groupe Danone is refuting allegations made against its US arm, The Dannon Co, over misleading advertising claims.
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It was announced yesterday (23 January) that a class-action lawsuit had been filed against the company in California for the use of false advertising to promote its probiotic yogurt in the country.
In response, Groupe Danone today said they are “standing by the claims of its products and the clinical studies which support them”.
The company said: “All of Dannon’s claims for Activia and DanActive are completely supported by peer-reviewed science and are in accordance with all laws and regulations. Dannon’s advertising has always been and will continue to be absolutely truthful and we will vigorously challenge this lawsuit.”
Dannon claim to make “all scientific studies about its products available to the public following the established method of peer-review and publication, available on the company’s website.”
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By GlobalDataThe lawsuit cited scientific reports showing there was no conclusive evidence that the bacteria prevented illness or was beneficial to healthy adults, and that Dannon knew this.
Probiotics are just beginning to take off in the US, a market that has lagged behind Western Europe and Japan in its awareness of the category.
Scientific approval and recognition in Japan and Europe had provided the foundation on which probiotic products in those markets could grow. In the US, the scientific community had been initially reluctant to embrace the idea.
However, that resistance is slowly being broken and the US is becoming a more fertile ground for probiotics. In the last year, General Mills has also launched probiotic products and Yakult is being rolled out into the US mainstream for the first time.
See the just-food blog for our thoughts on Danone’s fight.
