Coca-Cola Sued Over Its Claim of ‘Pure’ Juice

BRADENTON, Fla. — Tropicana Products Inc. has sued the Coca-Cola Co. over labeling and advertising claims for its “premium choice” pasteurized Minute Maid orange juice.

Tropicana contends that the description on the side panel of the Minute Maid container and ads depicting the juice as “100% pure Florida orange juice straight from the orange” are false and deceptive under an appellate ruling in a 6-year-old case.

Coca-Cola representatives did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Tropicana filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in New York, said Martin Gutfreund, a Tropicana vice president.

Tropicana maintains that its competitor violates the federal appeals court decision governing advertising of pasteurized orange juice.

“Minute Maid seems to us to have willfully disregarded the very rule of law that was established in their own lawsuit,” Gutfreund said Tuesday.

Coca-Cola established in a 1982 case against Tropicana that no processor could claim pasteurized orange juice was juice “as it comes from the orange,” Gutfreund said.