Danone has filed a federal lawsuit in Manhattan against Chobani, accusing the US yogurt maker of misleading consumers about the protein content of its high-protein products. The complaint targets Chobani 20G Protein packaging, which Danone says is designed to position Chobani as a direct rival to its own high-protein yogurt line, Oikos.
According to Danone, Chobani inflates the protein message on the label in a way that makes product comparisons harder for shoppers and allows Chobani to advertise a lower price while implying the two products contain the same amount of protein. Danone said consumers should be able to compare products using information that is “clear, accurate and consistent.” It also argued that Chobani’s labeling on multi-serve containers enlarges the serving size, misleads customers, and prevents an “accurate comparison.”
Chobani rejected the claims. CEO Hamdi Ulukaya told Reuters that Danone is “throwing things out there” to generate negative headlines about the company he founded in 2007. “In a way, it kind of makes me laugh. We never add external protein to our products. We would never mislead anyone,” he said.
The case comes amid intensifying competition in the US protein-food market, especially high-protein yogurt. Reuters reported that consumer research in the US has shown rising demand in recent years, including from people taking GLP-1 weight-loss drugs who are trying to limit muscle loss while losing weight. Danone itself has struggled to keep up with the growing demand for such products.
