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COLUMBUS, OH (WOIO) - Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray announced that Ohio will receive more than $861,000 as a result of a multistate agreement with The Dannon Company Inc. (Dannon). This agreement was reached following allegations of deceptive advertising for Dannon's Activia and DanActive products. In the settlement with 39 states, Dannon has agreed to pay $21 million to the states, which is the largest payment to-date in a multistate settlement with a food producer.
"With today's settlement we are sending a strong message to food manufacturers who continue to push the limits on health-related marketing claims," said Cordray. "Deceptive advertising is absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
A lawsuit filed alleges that Dannon made unlawful claims in advertising, marketing, packaging and selling of Activia yogurts and DanActive dairy drinks, including claims that were not substantiated by competent and reliable scientific evidence at the time the claims were made.
Activia yogurt products are sold throughout the United States. Dannon represented that Activia helped to regulate the human digestive system based largely on the presence of one ingredient, a bacterial strain with purported probiotic benefits that Dannon trademarked under the name Bifidus Regularis. The attorneys general allege that Dannon represented that Activia improved intestinal transit time when one serving per day was consumed for two weeks. However, a majority of studies demonstrated a benefit only for individuals who consumed three servings per day for two weeks.
Dannon also produces and distributes DanActive dairy drinks. Dannon represented that DanActive provided consumers with "immunity" and cold and flu prevention benefits. Today's lawsuit alleges that those claims are unlawful, and further, that Dannon lacked adequate substantiation to support those claims. As with Activia, Dannon's advertising and marketing emphasized that DanActive contains a probiotic bacterial strain. In DanActive's case, Dannon trademarked the bacterial strain under the fanciful name, L. casei Immunitas.
The settlement terms limit the claims that Dannon can make regarding the covered products. Specifically, Dannon may not represent that the covered products can prevent, treat, cure or mitigate disease. Additionally, Dannon must possess competent and reliable scientific evidence to support otherwise permissible claims about the health benefits, performance, efficacy or safety of its probiotic food products.
Dannon, which houses its largest manufacturing facility in Minster, Ohio, does not admit any wrongdoing and denies the factual allegations asserted in the states' complaint.
States participating in this settlement are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
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