Earlier this year, I wrote a post about the important differences between “natural” and “organic”, and that “natural” really means nothing since it doesn’t have any strict regulations like we have with “organic”.
Making matters worse is that our government does absolutely nothing to crack down on the rampant abuse of the word “natural”.
As a result, major food companies aggressively push this marketing term onto consumers and try to coax them into thinking that “natural” means something healthy.
(Believe me, they are having tremendous success. People tell me all of the time that what they eat is “all-natural”, hoping to impress me. It doesn’t work.)
Well, this abuse might be coming to an end sometime very soon, and it is has nothing to do with the efforts of the people from the FTC, FDA or USDA.
It has everything to do with a major class-action litigation law firm, Milberg LLP, who sees the rights of consumers being violated by major corporate food companies.
THE LAWSUIT
Milberg LLP, a serious player when it comes to class action lawsuits, is suing ConAgra because it has been selling a line of Wesson Oils and advertising them as “100% Natural” on the labels.
On behalf of the plaintiffs, Milberg LLP asserts that since the Wesson Oils contain genetically-modified ingredients, the product is in fact not “100% Natural”.
According to Andrei Rado, Partner at Milberg LLP, ConAgra’s misleading claims violate California’s false advertising and unfair competition laws and business codes.
Monsanto, the biggest player in the world when it comes to genetically-modified food, defines genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) on its website as food with “genetic makeup altered to exhibit traits that are not naturally theirs.”
ConAgra will say that since they are taking genes from one “natural” organism and inserting them into another “natural” organism, that the end-product is still “natural”.
The jury will ultimately rule whether a reasonable consumer believes that a genetically-modified food product is natural or not.
MY TAKE
This is a very, very positive piece of news for consumers. Why?
First and foremost, it will bring a lot of attention to GMOs, something that the industrial food producers will be very unhappy about.
Even though genetically-modified food comprises roughly 70-80% of supermarket shelves, my sense is that an incredibly high percentage of the U.S. population has no idea what genetically-modified food is.
This lawsuit, which hopefully will garner a lot of media attention, should raise awareness of GMOs in a major way.
If consumers start becoming aware of GMOs and understand the potential health risks of consuming them, they will be more inclined to switch to organic food, which prohibits GMOs.
Furthermore, if this case holds, other corporate food companies that have been advertising their genetically-modified products as “100% natural”, or “natural”, may be open to lawsuits as well.
This all could result in a big financial payout to plaintiffs, a big financial hit to the industrial food system and a severe drop in demand for genetically-modified food.
Europe, Japan, and Australia understand the risks of GMOs and require the mandatory labeling of GM-food.
The U.S. government is so beholden to biotech and corporate agriculture that it not only does not require the labeling of GMOs but it subsidizes GMOs.
This lawsuit is fantastic news for all consumers.
Thank you Milberg for doing the work that our government refuses to do.
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If you want more information or have bought any Wesson Oils and may be interested in joining the class action lawsuit, please contact Milberg LLP HERE.
