LaCroix Lawsuit down shares of parent company to 9%

This is the kind of news that fears any business: the company that manufactures LaCroix is ​​sued for mislabeling Seltzer as "completely natural" and allegedly included ingredients used in a insecticide against cockroaches. Since the class action was announced earlier this week, the shares of LaCroix's parent company have lost nearly 9% of its value.

Law firm Beaumont Costales announced Monday that it has filed a class action lawsuit in Chicago against National Beverage Corp., which in turn stated that it "categorically denied all allegations" in the suit. It was not until Friday that the news of the dispute became viral. National Beverage shares fell 2.3% on Friday, but for the week, they fell 8.8%.

Beaumont Costales asserts that National Beverage "intentionally misled the consumer" by calling LaCroix "100% natural" and was intended to "award damages to those who bought the beverage on the assumption that everything was natural". ingredients used to kill cockroaches.

"LaCroix actually contains ingredients that have been identified by the Food and Drug Administration as synthetic products," says the lawsuit. "These chemicals include limonene, which can lead to kidney toxicity and tumors; linalool propionate, used to treat cancer; and linalool, which is used in the cockroach insecticide. "

Natural Beverage, for its part, said in a statement that it "categorically refutes all allegations". The LaCroix flavors are "derived from the natural essential oils of the named fruit used in each of the flavors. There are no sugars or artificial ingredients contained in, nor added to, these extracted flavors. "

according to Popular science, the pursuit is a "stretch". The chemicals listed in the lawsuit, linalool, as well as limonene and linalool proponate, "are not exactly qualified as synthetic" – and they are not as dangerous as the lawsuit claims. But now that the claims have become viral, the LaCroix brand could be lost to consumers who are too busy to determine whether, for example, linalool is a natural ingredient or not.

Founded in 1985, National Beverage, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Sells beverages under several brands, including Shasta, Rip It energy drinks and Mr. Pure juice drinks. LaCroix is ​​a successful product that has increased sales by 51% over the past three years to $ 976 million.