PinkBerry Settles FauxGurt Class Action Suit; Investigation of Soylent Green Continues

(FranchisePick.Com) In a scandal that’s rocked the frozen yogurt industry and sent shock waves through, well, nowhere important, Pinkberry has settled its class action lawsuit without admitting wrongdoing or even to knowing what it is they’re selling.

Here’s a tasty excerpt from breaking Pinkberry news in the New York Times:

LOS ANGELES — Of all the great self-deceptions perpetrated among the dieting public, none is perhaps as specious as the notion that frozen yogurt is somehow health food…

In a class-action lawsuit filed last year, Pinkberry — which operates roughly 50 stores in California and New York — was accused of misrepresenting its product as “frozen yogurt” and making bogus health claims, including that the dessert (which comes in three flavors: plain, which is very sour; green tea, which is chalky; and coffee, uncommonly delicious) was “all-natural.”

In a preliminary settlement reached this week, Pinkberry denied any wrongdoing but agreed to pay $750,000 to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and Para Los Niños. The plaintiff, Lisa Sutton, who said she suffered injuries and undue loss of money spent on Pinkberry products, will receive legal fees and a $5,000 award for bringing the suit.

Under California law, a product cannot be marketed as frozen yogurt unless it is made from milk that is fermented with certain bacteria, mixed off-site rather than in stores, and sold with its ingredients prominently displayed. In the past, Pinkberry had been secret about its products’ ingredients, but it now lists them on its Web site, and it has begun to mix the product off-site.

“It has always been made with yogurt,” said a company spokeswoman, Heather Wilson, who added that Pinkberry’s owners were unaware of some of the state laws.

Pinkberry contains considerably more calories than its founder proclaimed in an interview last year, as well as some food additives…

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Photo source: Pinkberry