Woman Sues Jelly Belly Because Jelly Beans Have Sugar

A woman has sued Jelly Belly claiming she didn’t know sugar was one of the ingredients of their “Sport Beans.”

Jessica Gomez of San Bernardino County, California, claimed Jelly Belly was trying to “trick” her into believing the jelly beans didn’t contain sugar, Fox News reported. She said their “fancy phrasing” tried to make it look like the candies, marketed as an exercise supplement, didn’t contain sugar.

The jelly beans listed “evaporated cane juice” instead of sugar as an ingredient, although the nutrition facts panel did list sugar grams accurately, Fox News reported.

Jelly Belly called the case “nonsense” in an April motion to dismiss the lawsuit, but it’s possible the FDA might not see it the same way.

A May 2016 announcement by the FDA said “sweeteners derived from sugar cane should not be declared on food labels as ‘evaporated cane juice.’” According to the agency, the term is misleading and makes it seem like the ingredient is a fruit or vegetable, rather than a sugar.

Since then, FDA guidelines have been to encourage companies to relabel products from “evaporated cane juice” to sugar in order to be more truthful and “distinguish the ingredient from other cane-based sweeteners.”

Jelly Belly listed several reasons for the case to be thrown out, saying the “plaintiff does not explain why an athlete — or anyone — would be surprised to find sugar in a product described as ‘Jelly Beans,’” Fox reported.

Paperwork related to the lawsuit did not specify damages being sought, the Sacramento Bee reported.

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