Dannon to Pay $21 Million to Settle Yogurt Health Claims

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Thursday, December 16, 2010

GoLocalProv Health Team

Rhode Island was one of 38 states to reach a settlement with Dannon yesterday, makers of Activia yogurts and DanActive dairy drinks, for deceptive-marketing practices. The company’s national campaigns made unsupported claims that the yogurt products "had antimicrobial benefits, anti-infectious benefits, and an effect on colon cancer.” Accoding to the Federal Trade Commission, however, the claims lacked scientific proof.

Unsubstantiated and Unlawful Claims

Dannon advertised that Activia helped to regulate a person’s digestive system based largely on the presence of Bifidus Regularis, a bacterial strain with purported probiotic benefits. Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch and his colleagues said studies disproved Dannon’s representation that one serving per day would improve intestinal transit time. The Attorneys General also alleged that Dannon made other unsubstantiated and unlawful claims about Activia’s benefits. With DanActive, Dannon claimed that it provided consumers with “immunity” and cold and flu prevention benefits. The Attorneys General alleged that those claims are unlawful and that Dannon lacked adequate substantiation to support those claims. As with Activia, Dannon’s advertising and marketing emphasized that DanActive contains a probiotic bacterial strain that the company trademarked under the name, L. casei Immunitas.

"Settlement Should Serve as a Warning"

Under the multistate settlement, Dannon will pay $21 million to the Attorneys General to settle the allegations, with Rhode Island to receive $425,000. Lynch said, “However clever and fancy the names concocted for the probiotic bacterial strains contained in Activia and DanActive are, the health claims made by Dannon were excessive and exaggerated when matched with actual evidence. This settlement should serve as a warning to all food producers that, in an attempt to stand out in a very competitive market, would make unsubstantiated claims about the benefits of their products.”

Dannon, which cooperated with the multistate investigation, does not admit any wrongdoing and denies the factual allegations asserted in the Attorneys General’s complaint. The company may not represent that Activia or DanActive can prevent, treat, cure or mitigate disease. Additionally, 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.
 

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