Jessica Alba's The Honest news and updates: Sued! Criticized by the Los Angeles Superior Court
After a lawsuit being filed by a nonprofit, politically active group Organic Consumers Association earlier this month, Jessica Alba's The Honest claims have been criticized by the Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that Honest violates the Organic Food Production Act of 1990 and the California Organic Products Act of 2003 by claiming its Premium Infant Formula is organic.
Katherine Paul, associate director of the Organic Consumers Association, told ABC News, "The Honest Co. is falsely representing its Premium Infant Formula as 'organic' even though this product contains 11 synthetic substances prohibited under federal law in organic products, this is unacceptable."
The ABC News writes, among the ingredients the infant formula lawsuit lists is taurine, which the National Organic Standards Board declined to add to the national list in July 2012. At the time, the synthetic form was petitioned for use in infant formula "because insufficient taurine could result in subpar fat digestion and absorption in infants."
The board explained when it chose not to recommend taurine to the list, "Taurine can be made or extracted from non-synthetic sources, although apparently available only in small amounts at this time. Although essential for cats and thus added to cat pet food, taurine is considered a non-essential human dietary supplement."
Paul said she wants Honest to remove the word "organic" from the infant formula label or remove the ingredients.
A statement from The Honest Company read, "Our Organic Infant Formula is cleared by the Food and Drug Administration and meets all safety and nutritional standards. It is also certified USDA Organic by an independent third party, in strict accordance with the National Organic Program. We are confident this lawsuit will be dismissed."
