Pinkberry Settles Lawsuit Over Misrepresentation
Beloved and trendy frozen treat purveyor Pinkberry has agreed to a settlement in the lawsuit where the chain was accused of misrepresenting its product as "frozen yogurt" and as "all-natural." Pinkberry isn't admitting any wrongdoing but is, the NY Times reports, giving $750,000 to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, a food collection agency, and Para Los Niños, a nonprofit family service organization, plus paying legals fees of "plaintiff, Lisa Sutton, who said she suffered injuries and undue loss of money spent on Pinkberry product." Cue The Non-Fat Yogurt Seinfeld references (video above)!
What's interesting is that California law requires frozen yogurt products to fit certain requirements, like having a certain level of bacteria, which Pinkberry didn't, and listing ingredients clearly (those details have recently appeared on the website). This kind of controversy hasn't swept the East Coast; the most trouble Pinkberry has had in NYC would be how much rodents like it.
If you look at Pinkberry's nutritional info, you'll see that a small container includes 1.4 servings (a medium has 2.2, a large 3.6). Four years ago, frozen dessert CremaLita could no longer call itself low-calorie or low-fat when it turned out it didn't qualify for low-fat classification. And Sutton is also getting $5,000 for bringing the suit forward, which works out to be like one medium original dessert (with toppings) every day for three years.
