By By: Karley Wajda
Staff-Writer
Next time you go shopping for your fruit juice fix, keep an eye out: Simply Tropical is facing backlash with a 45-page class-action lawsuit.
Simply Tropical juice, a pineapple and mango flavored household drink, has been claimed to be an all-natural juice concentrate, but it is now shown to be contaminated with toxic per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
PFAS are used in non-stick frying pans, and can remain in the body for long periods of time. While avoiding PFAS forever is not possible here in the U.S., there are ways to limit the exposure we have to them. A few ways to do so would be installing an in-home water treatment to help lower levels of PFAS in the water we drink, and to avoid eating fish from waterways contaminated by PFAS.
The lawsuit was filed about this on Dec. 28, 2022 in the Southern District of New York. The suit claims that the plaintiff, a New York consumer, used a third-party independent test site to find the “forever chemicals”, named for the fact that they remain in the body permanently. The test “detected material levels” of these PFAS.
The results revealed “concerning” levels of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), both well known forever chemicals.
The Simply Orange Juice Company, a brand of the Coca-Cola Company, is the company that makes the Simply Tropical juice. Both of these companies are defendants of the lawsuit. The lawsuit states that the presence of PFAS is not consistent with the two companies. The only ingredients listed on the bottle are “filtered water, fruit juice and puree, cane sugar, and natural flavors.”
They have pushed these drinks to seem natural and good for the body. Coca-Cola has stated they will be standing by their products.
