LaCroix Class Action Claims Sparkling Water Contains Insecticide

The makers of the popular beverage LaCroix have been hit with a consumer class action lawsuit  alleging the sparkling water contains synthetic ingredients, including cockroach insecticide.

Plaintiff Lenora Rice filed the LaCroix class action lawsuit in Cook County, Illinois earlier this month in an attempt to make National Beverage Corp. d/b/a LaCroix Sparkling waters stop their practice of mislabeling their signature product as “all-natural”. Rice claims that LaCroix is misleading consumers into believing their sparkling water is natural when, according to the complaint, it is not.

LaCroix is marketed and labeled as “all-natural” or “100% natural”. In fact, much of LaCroix’s popularity stems from the American consumer’s perception that the water is comprised on entirely natural substances. However, the LaCroix class action lawsuit asserts that the water contains chemical compounds that have been deemed synthetic or artificial by the FDA, such as ethyl butanoate, limonene, linalool and linalool propionate.

These chemical compounds are synthetically created and added to consumable goods to make them taste or smell a certain way. For instance, limonene causes kidney toxicity and tumors; linalool is used as a cockroach insecticide; and linalool propionate is used to treat cancer.

Rice states that she began purchasing LaCroix in 2016, desiring a healthy natural beverage. She claims she was duped by the claims on the bubbly water’s packaging that it was “naturally essence”, “all natural”, and “always 100% natural.” She has since stop purchasing and consuming the water.

The National Beverage Corp. “categorically denies all allegations” in the LaCroix class action lawsuit, and issued statement arguing that the complaint is “without basis in fact or law regarding the natural composition” of LaCroix sparkling waters.

“Natural flavors in LaCroix are derived from the natural essence oils from the named fruit used in each of the flavors,” the statement contends. “The lawsuit provides no support for its false statements about LaCroix’s ingredients.”

Rice is seeking to represent a class of Illinois residents who purchased LaCroix water in the last four years.

“Because LaCroix water is in fact composed of substances that are not ‘all natural’, there are thousands of purchasers of the product – including the plaintiff and class members – who would not have purchased LaCroix water had they known Defendant’s representations were false.”

Rice is represented by William Beaumont of Beaumont Costales LLC.

The LaCroix Class Action Lawsuit is Rice et al. v. National Beverage Corp., Case No. 2018­CH­12302, in the Circuit Court of Cook County.