It’s become a cult favorite, but now LaCroix flavored sparkling water has become something else: the subject of a class action lawsuit.
Chicago firm Beaumont Costales recently announced that it has sued LaCroix’s parent company, National Beverage Corp., in Cook County for allegedly falsely branding its product’s ingredients as “natural” when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has classified them as “synthetic.”
Despite the relative commonality of these types of suits in recent years, the story garnered significant news coverage, likely because of the popularity of the product. And it probably didn’t hurt that Beaumont Costales said one of the synthetic ingredients in LaCroix products is also used in cockroach insecticide, a tidbit that made for catchy headlines.
In a report published a few days after the original news—and covered by several news outlets—Popular Science magazine deemed the water “safe,” but LaCroix still felt the reputational damage, asking its consumers in a tweet to “please stand with us as we defend our beloved LaCroix.” National Beverage also chastised…
