On July 27, 2026, the Seventh Circuit sent a yogurt labeling case back to a jury, ruling in Franco v. Chobani, LLC that federal law does not override state consumer claims relating to a “zero sugar” product containing 4 grams of allulose per serving. Following the FDA’s amicus brief that confirmed allulose\u2019s classification as a sugar under its labeling regulations, Judges Kirsch, Rovner, and Maldonado reinstated Jason and Abigail Franco’s 2023 case against Chobani, reversing a district court\u2019s dismissal based on preemption. Plaintiffs\u2019 firms swiftly embraced this rationale, leading to proposed class actions against several companies over analogous labeling concerns. The case did not ascertain if the label genuinely misled consumers.<\/p>\n
The primary issue revolves around whether allulose, a monosaccharide, qualifies as “total sugars” according to 21 C.F.R. \u00a7 101.9(c)(6)(ii). Although FDA guidance excludes it from enforcement without altering the regulation, the agency’s brief contended that allulose, chemically a sugar, falls within the regulation\u2019s ambit. The court concurred that enforcement discretion does not shield manufacturers from state claims that correspond with federal standards. The ruling enabled claims of consumer deception to advance without ruling on factual misrepresentation in the market.<\/p>\n
Upon remand, the lower court must consider whether reasonable consumers interpret “zero sugar” in literal monosaccharide terms, evaluate the plaintiffs\u2019 injury, and assess class action appropriateness. Chobani asserts that its label complies with discretionary non-enforcement. The Seventh Circuit ruling focuses on the nutrient content claim rather than the Nutrition Facts panel itself.<\/p>\n
This case highlights regulatory asymmetry: a label could be consistent with FDA guidance while still facing state consumer claims, a scenario currently being explored in ongoing suits against various brands. The permanence of the outcome remains uncertain, confined to the Seventh Circuit in light of discrepancies in other jurisdictions. The FDA could potentially address this through formal rulemaking regarding allulose labeling, providing clarification on the matter. However, no legal infractions or recalls have been announced, but the case underscores distinct regulatory, enforcement, and litigation challenges that industries must address.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On July 27, 2026, the Seventh Circuit sent a yogurt labeling case back to a jury, ruling in Franco v. Chobani, LLC that federal law does not override state consumer claims relating to a “zero sugar” product containing 4 grams of allulose per serving. Following the FDA’s amicus brief that confirmed allulose\u2019s classification as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":376050,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[179],"class_list":["post-376049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-source-scienceblog-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=376049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/376050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=376049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=376049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wolfscientific.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=376049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}