Ingredients in popular sparkling water not so sparkly: Lawsuit

Could “pamplemousse” be French slang for, say, the natural essence of cockroach insecticide?

A class action lawsuit has been filed against National Beverage Corp., maker of the popular flavored sparkling water LaCroix, for allegedly falsely claiming the drink to be “100% natural” when the beverages’ pastel-colored cans contain a list of not-so-sparkly ingredients.

“The plaintiff (Lenora) Rice, desiring a healthy, natural beverage, was led to purchase LaCroix sparkling water because of the claims made on its packaging, advertising and website to be ‘innocent,’ ‘naturally essenced,’ ‘all natural,’ and ‘always 100% natural,’” said the lawsuit, filed by the Chicago office for the firm Beaumont Costales LLC and accessed by CBS Philadelphia.

However, the suit claims, LaCroix contains myriad synthetic ingredients, among them limonene, which can cause kidney toxicity and tumors; linalool propionate, which is used to treat cancer; and linalool, which is used in cockroach insecticide, the lawsuit states.

Allegedly, the company is aware of chemicals in LaCroix sparkling water but are “intentionally misleading consumers,” according to the lawsuit.

National Beverage Corp. denied the allegation, saying the lawsuit was filed “without basis in fact or law regarding the natural composition of its LaCroix sparkling waters,” according to the CBS report that aired Thursday.

The lawsuit — seeking more plaintiffs — aims to halt LaCroix’s false promotions as a healthy, natural beverage and to award damages to those who purchased the drink under the assumption that it was all natural, according to CBS.