PepsiCo Inc.’s Quaker Oats has been accused of false advertising by a group of consumers in New York, California and Illinois, who have filed a class action lawsuit challenging the company’s claim of being “100 Percent Natural” despite having traces of the weedkiller glyphosate found in its famous oatmeal.
According to the complaint, glyphosate allegedly made its way into Quaker Oats “not simply because it is used as an agricultural weed killer, but because it is sprayed on the oats as a drying agent shortly before harvest.”
The plaintiffs, who are seeking refunds from PepsiCo., are not accusing Quaker of illegally using glyphosate but that its “100 Percent Natural” claim is “false, deceptive and misleading” since it contains the controversial chemical.
Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s flagship herbicide Roundup, was declared a probable carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) last year.
“Quaker knows that consumers seek out and wish to purchase whole, natural foods that do not contain chemicals, and that consumers will pay more for foods that they believe to be natural,” the court document states.
Quaker advertises its popular whole grain oats for its “wholesome goodness.” However, as the complaint states:
No reasonable consumer, seeing these representations, would expect Quaker Oats to contain anything unnatural, or anything other than whole, rolled oats.
Quaker Oats, despite their labels, do contain something other than whole, rolled oats; namely, Quaker Oats contain glyphosate.
Glyphosate is not “Natural” or “100 Percent Natural.” Glyphosate is a synthetic biocide and probable human carcinogen, with additional health dangers rapidly becoming known.
Quaker issued a defense to the New York Times, stating, “Any levels of glyphosate that may remain are trace amounts and significantly below any limits which have been set by the EPA as safe for human consumption.”
The New York Times reported that in a test paid for by lawyers for the plaintiffs, the Richman Law Group, glyphosate was detected at a level of 1.18 parts per million in a sample of Quaker Oats Quick 1-Minute, or 4 percent of the 30 parts per million that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allows in cereal grains.
Glyphosate is the most widely used agricultural herbicide in the world. Farmers sprayed 2.6 billion pounds of Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicide on U.S. agricultural land between 1992 and 2012, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The chemical has been detected in several products, from alcoholic beverages and even women’s hygiene products. Last month, the Alliance for Natural Health-USA released the results of food safety testing conducted on an assortment of popular breakfast foods, revealing that glyphosate was found in 10 of the 24 food samples tested, including oatmeal, bagels, eggs (including the organic variety), potatoes and even non-GMO soy coffee creamer.
Monsanto has vehemently denied the cancer claims of its product and has demanded a retraction of the IARC report.
