A class-action lawsuit was filed last week against the manufacturer of a pomegranate juice (and its parent company) for falsely advertising the product (POM) as “all natural” and healthful where it in fact contained non-natural and potentially dangerous PFAS chemicals.  

As many of our readers will know, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) consist of a large group of fluorinated chemicals which bioaccumulate and have been linked to numerous negative health outcomes. Two types of PFAS, perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) have been the subject of most the research on the health effects of PFAS.

Plaintiffs independently tested Defendant’s pomegranate juice and found it to contain 2.5 parts per trillion (ppt) of “6:2FTS” PFAS and 6.5 ppt of “PFPeA” PFAS. Defendants claim this amount is “significant” based on EPA’s interim updated health advisories for PFOA and PFOS of 0.004 ppt and 0.02 ppt, respectively.

The complaint does not justify application of EPA’s health advisory limits for PFOA and PFOS to different types of PFAS nor does it explain how the PFAS might have entered the juice or how Defendants could have known about the presence of PFAS.