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TRENTON
– Attorney General Paula T. Dow announced
today that New Jersey has entered into a
multi-state settlement agreement with The
Dannon Company, Inc. under which Dannon
will pay the states a total of $21 million
to resolve allegations it made unsubstantiated
and deceptive marketing claims regarding
its Activia yogurt and DanActive drink products.
Under
terms of the settlement – the largest
payout to date in a multi-state settlement
involving a food producer -- New Jersey
will receive $425,000. A total of 39 states
and the Federal Trade Commission worked
cooperatively on the Dannon investigation,
which focused on claims made by Dannon about
the purported health benefits of eating
Activia and drinking DanActive. The FTC
has entered into a separate settlement agreement
with Dannon regarding the same claims.
Among other things, New Jersey and the other
states allege that Dannon has misleadingly
claimed in its marketing of Activia yogurt
that a single serving per day for two weeks
improves intestinal transit time. In fact,
the states’ investigation found, the
majority of studies show that it requires
significantly more Activia – three
servings per day for two weeks – to
achieve digestive benefits.
Dannon
also claimed in marketing DanActive that
drinking the beverage would provide certain
“immunity” benefits, including
prevention of cold and flu. The states alleged
that such claims were deceptive, and that
Dannon lacked adequate substantiation to
make them.
In
the case of both Activia and DanActive,
Dannon made its claims of health benefits
based largely on the presence of one ingredient
-- a bacterial strain with purported probiotic
benefits. The strain in Activia was trademarked
under the name Bifidus Regularis. The strain
in DanActive was trademarked under the name
L. casei Immunitas.
A
lawsuit filed by New Jersey today along
with the Dannon settlement agreement contends
that the company made claims in its advertising,
marketing, packaging and selling of Activia
and DanActive that were not substantiated
by competent and reliable scientific evidence.
Under the settlement, Dannon is now limited
in the representations it can make regarding
Activia and DanActive. Specifically, Dannon
cannot claim the two products help prevent,
treat, cure or mitigate disease. In addition,
Dannon must possess competent and reliable
scientific evidence to support otherwise-permissible
claims about the health benefits, performance,
efficacy or safety of its probiotic food
products.
Under
the settlement
agreement, Dannon admits no wrongdoing.
Along
with New Jersey, states participating in
the settlement include: Alaska, Arizona,
Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware,
Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North
Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota,
Texas, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, West
Virginia, Wisconsin and the State of Hawaii
Office of Consumer Protection.
Deputy
Attorney General Alina Wells, of the Division
of Law’s Consumer Fraud Prosecution
Section, represented New Jersey in the Dannon
matter.
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