What shoppers should know about Chobani’s latest lawsuit
When a yogurt is labeled as “zero sugar,” you don’t expect to have to decode what that means. But a revived lawsuit against Chobani has turned that seemingly simple claim into a technical debate over one ingredient: allulose.
A federal appeals court ruled July 27 that a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing Chobani of misleading consumers with its Zero Sugar yogurt can move forward. The case centers on the fact that the yogurt contains about 4 grams of allulose per serving, even though Chobani markets it as having no sugar.
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This ruling doesn’t actually mean Chobani has been found liable for misleading shoppers — it just reverses an earlier dismissal and gives the plaintiffs an opportunity to try to prove their claims. The case began in federal court in Chicago in 2023, after Jason and Abigail Franco purchased Chobani Zero Sugar yogurt at a Costco. The couple claimed that they reasonably understood the “zero sugar” labeling to mean exactly that.
But allulose, a sweet-tasting carbohydrate that occurs naturally in small amounts in some foods, is chemically considered a monosaccharide, or simple sugar. The body processes it differently than familiar sugars, such as glucose and sucrose, which is what led to this unusual situation. Under federal regulations, foods using terms such as “sugar-free” or “zero sugar” generally must contain less than 0.5 grams of sugar per serving. The same regulations define total sugars as mono- and disaccharides — a definition the appeals court determined includes allulose.
In 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued guidance saying it would use “enforcement discretion” to allow food makers to leave allulose out of the Total Sugars and Added Sugars lines on Nutrition Facts labels while the agency considers future rulemaking. The FDA has also said allulose is metabolized differently from traditional sugars, so it permitted manufacturers to calculate it at 0.4 calories per gram rather than the usual 4 calories per gram for carbohydrates. That guidance was central to the earlier dismissal of the lawsuit.
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The appeals court disagreed. After asking the FDA for its position, the Seventh Circuit concluded that allulose still falls within the regulation’s legal definition of sugar. The FDA’s decision not to enforce certain labeling requirements, the court said, did not actually rewrite that definition.
“While we respectfully disagree with the appellate court decision reversing the dismissal of the case, we look forward to presenting additional arguments to the district court,” a Chobani spokesperson said in a statement, adding that allulose doesn’t raise blood sugar or cause cavities like traditional sugars do.
The ruling doesn’t cause Chobani Zero Sugar yogurt to disappear from stores, and Chobani is still currently marketing the line as “Zero Sugar” for now.
