{"id":758,"date":"2025-11-14T22:51:36","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T22:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/?p=758"},"modified":"2025-11-14T22:51:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T22:51:36","slug":"cape-cod-chips-sued-over-no-artificial-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/?p=758","title":{"rendered":"Cape Cod Chips Sued Over \u201cNo Artificial\u201d Claim"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-journey-body=\"standard-article\">\n<ul data-node-id=\"0\" class=\"css-kw9lqy emevuu60\">\n<li data-node-id=\"0.0\">A class action lawsuit alleges that Cape Cod potato chips falsely claim that their products contain &#8220;no artificial ingredients, colors, or preservatives.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li data-node-id=\"0.1\">The complaint centers on the use of synthetic citric acid as a preservative, known to have potential health consequences.<\/li>\n<li data-node-id=\"0.2\">Plaintiffs claim they would have paid less or not purchased the chips at all if they had known there was a synthetic ingredient in the product.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr data-node-id=\"1\" class=\"css-18pb4rg emevuu60\"\/>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"2\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Beloved crunchy potato chip brand\u2014our favorite, actually\u2014Cape Cod is the latest target of litigation. A new class action lawsuit accuses the company of false advertising, arguing that packages claiming &#8220;no artificial ingredients, colors, or preservatives&#8221; are misleading. The chips in question contain synthetic citric acid, which is used as a preservative. As per the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ams.usda.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/media\/Citric%20Acid%20TR%202015.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" data-vars-ga-outbound-link=\"https:\/\/www.ams.usda.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/media\/Citric%20Acid%20TR%202015.pdf\" data-vars-ga-ux-element=\"Hyperlink\" data-vars-ga-call-to-action=\"U.S. Department of Agriculture\" data-node-id=\"2.3\" class=\"body-link css-1i7jlb0 emevuu60\">U.S. Department of Agriculture<\/a>, natural citric acid is not commercially available; therefore, any citric acid used in packaged foods is made synthetically. <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"3\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">According to the filing, Cape Cod &#8220;makes these natural claims in an effort to capitalize on the growing market for natural products. Health-conscious consumers are willing to pay a price premium for products labeled and advertised as natural because they believe that such products are safer and\/or healthier to consume.&#8221; The litigation maintains that consumers would either have paid less for the product or not purchased it at all if they had known it contained a synthetic ingredient.  <\/p>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"4\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">The complaint also claims that synthetic citric acid has been linked to poor health outcomes, including fibromyalgia, asthma, autistic spectrum disorder, and juvenile idiopathic arthritis. (Those assertions are presented as part of the lawsuit\u2019s argument, not specifically established medical consensus.) Synthetic citric acid is made by fermentation using a type of mold called <em data-node-id=\"4.1\">Aspergillus niger, <\/em>a known allergen that can cause inflammatory reactions.  <\/p>\n<section data-embed=\"watch-next\" data-lazy-id=\"P0-13\" data-node-id=\"5\" class=\"embed\"\/>\n<p data-journey-content=\"true\" data-node-id=\"6\" class=\"css-6wxqfj emevuu60\">Interestingly, because it is generally too expensive to use natural citric acid found in fruit for preservation purposes, nearly all citric acid you see listed on your food packaging is synthetic. With that in mind, if the court agrees with the plaintiffs\u2019 interpretation of \u201cno artificial ingredients,\u201d will this case have ripple effects beyond Cape Cod potato chips? <\/p>\n<section data-embed=\"editorial-link\" data-lazy-id=\"P0-14\" data-node-id=\"7\" class=\"embed\">\n<aside class=\"css-fcvumo e94w1mj1\">\n<div data-theme-key=\"carousel-container\" aria-roledescription=\"carousel\" role=\"region\" aria-live=\"off\" aria-labelledby=\"PP0-14-0\" class=\"css-vzlvvm e1kgjrvy4\">\n<p><h2 id=\"PP0-14-0\" data-theme-key=\"carousel-hed\" class=\"css-4i2xvz e1kgjrvy5\"><span aria-hidden=\"true\" data-theme-key=\"title-design-element-before\" class=\"css-0 eagam8p0\"\/>More On Food Health &amp; Safety<span aria-hidden=\"true\" data-theme-key=\"title-design-element-after\" class=\"css-0 eagam8p1\"\/><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A class action lawsuit alleges that Cape Cod potato chips falsely claim that their products contain &#8220;no artificial ingredients, colors, or preservatives.&#8221; The complaint centers on the use of synthetic citric acid as a preservative, known to have potential health consequences. Plaintiffs claim they would have paid less or not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cupcake.website\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}