Rude Health's almond milk
London-based company Rude Health is up for a nomination for its almond milk which contains only 1% almonds. As FoodWatch points out, it actually contains more rice than almonds.
A spokesperson for Rude Health told FoodNavigator the company was surprised by the nomination. "[We] have always been very clear that the Almond Drink contains 1% organic almonds and rice, so it seems strange to claim that the drink is misleading."
Almond milk has been rising in popularity in recent years and so have the disputes about how many almonds it should actually contain. The UK’s Advertising Standard’s Agency ruled in the past that almond milk containing 2% almonds is not misleading to consumers but in the US a false advertising lawsuit against Blue Diamond Growers claims their product is marketed to imply that it is made primarily out of almonds, when in fact the content sits at 2%.
Van de Wouw said that in many instances, companies are not in breach of the law when making claims that consumers consider misleading. "We think the law is far too less strict to misleading food producers. So a lot of the products which are misleading consumers are not illegal. In this campaign we therefore use the power of the consumers: if enough people vote, this will be a powerful signal to misleading producers to stop their misleading marketing."
