Smoothies lacking fruit? Jamba Juice faces lawsuit for “deceptive” smoothie marketing

27 Aug 2018 --- US restaurant Jamba Juice is facing a class action lawsuit filed in federal court for marketing its smoothies as containing “whole fruits and vegetables,” when they largely consist of unadvertised, less nutritious ingredients such as juices from concentrate, The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) reports. Despite using statements like “Jamba blends whole fruits & veggies” and “Whole fruit! That’s how we blend” on marketing materials, Jamba Juice uses large quantities of juice blends, sherbet and other non-whole fruit and non-whole-vegetable ingredients in its smoothies, according to the complaint.

Jamba Juice represents on menu boards that its Caribbean Passion smoothie, for instance, contains five whole-fruit ingredients: mango, strawberry, peach, orange and passion fruit. In fact, that smoothie appears to have no whole mango, no whole orange, and no whole passion fruit, according to CSPI. Instead of those advertised fruits, Caribbean Passion has as its first ingredient a “Passion Fruit-Mango Juice Blend,” according to the company’s website. A large Caribbean Passion has 440 calories and 95 grams – or approximately 24 teaspoons – of total sugars.

The US consumer group adds that the company also makes mention of “super ingredients” such as kale in its smoothie marketing. However, cheaper ingredients seem to predominate. Advertising on social media and in emails urges consumers to “Drink your greens” and features images of kale and ginger root alongside Jamba’s Greens N’ Ginger smoothie. The menu board categorizes Greens N’ Ginger as a “Fruit & Veggie” smoothie and lists mango, peaches, kale, lemon, and ginger as ingredients. Yet, CSPI explain, despite abundant images of kale, “lemonade” is the first listed ingredient in Greens N’ Ginger, according to the company’s website. Even that un-advertised “lemonade” is largely comprised of white grape juice from concentrate.

The complaint also alleges that Jamba Juice gives consumers the impression that the only sugars in its smoothies are exclusively from whole fruits and vegetables and that the smoothies contain no additives. On Instagram, for instance, Jamba Juice posted: “Not fake news: Jamba blends only real, whole ingredients to power your day.”

However, CSPI points out that Jamba’s Aloha Pineapple smoothie has pineapple juice from concentrate as its first ingredient, according to the company website. Its third ingredient, “Pineapple Sherbet,” has more water, milk, sugar, corn syrup, whey and cream than it does pineapple.

The lawsuit was brought in United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Besides CSPI’s Kats, plaintiffs are represented by CSPI litigation associate Matthew Simon and Michael R. Reese and George Granade of Reese LLP. In recent years CSPI’s litigation unit has negotiated numerous improvements to the marketing and labeling of products such as Naked Juice, Cheerios Protein, and Plum Organics baby food.

More than one-third of US adults are obese and some of the lead causes of preventable deaths – such as stroke, diabetes and cancers – are obesity-related, as reported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Arguably, the food service industry plays an important role in the epidemic, especially if supposedly healthy foods are in fact packed with sugars and calories and the marketing is misleading.