Gitson v. Trader Joe’s Co.

Amy Gitson and Deborah Ross (plaintiffs) brought a putative class-action lawsuit against Trader Joe’s Company (defendant), alleging that certain food products sold in Trader Joe’s grocery stores had been misleadingly labeled in violation of § 343 of the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). Among other things, Gitson and Ross asserted that Trader Joe’s use of the word “soymilk” to describe products that did not contain cow’s milk violated § 343(a) of the FDCA and constituted unfair competition in violation of California law. Gitson and Ross claimed that the word “soymilk” was misleading because consumers might mistake soy milk for actual cow’s milk and believe that soy milk and cow’s milk have similar nutritional content. Gitson and Ross also argued that the soy-milk-labeled products were misleading under § 343(g) of the FDCA because the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had given “milk” a standard regulatory definition meaning milk from a cow. Gitson and Ross alleged that Trader Joe’s had received two FDA warning letters indicating that FDA investigators believed certain products labeled “soymilk” had been misbranded because “soymilk” does not contain “milk.” The warning letters provided no further explanation or justification for the FDA investigators’ concerns. Trader Joe’s moved to dismiss Gitson’s and Ross’s soy-milk-related claims.