Equal Sues Splenda

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Equal Sues Splenda

Maker Of Equal Sues Marketer Of Splenda

Dec 1,2004

By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press Writer

PHILADELPHIA - The company that makes the artificial sweetener Equal

filed a

false advertising lawsuit claiming its hot-selling competitor, Splenda,

isn't

really made from sugar as its packaging claims. In a complaint filed

Friday in

federal court in Philadelphia, Merisant Co. said Splenda's marketing

slogan,

"made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar," should read something more

like,

"made from dextrose, maltodextrin and 4-chloro-4-deoxy-alpha,

D-Galactopyranosyl-1,6-dichloro-1,6-dideoxy-beta, D-fructofuranoside."

The third substance in that list is the chemical name for sucralose,

the sweet

part of Splenda. The other two ingredients are bulking agents, found in

many

foodstuffs that help control Splenda's taste. Sucralose alone is about

600 times

as sweet as sugar. Merisant said McNeil Nutritionals, the unit of

Johnson &

Johnson that markets Splenda, had misled consumers into thinking the

artificial

sweetener was "natural", or made with raw sugar, when it is actually a

synthesized chemical.

"In reality ... there is no sugar in Splenda and Splenda's sweet

taste does not

come from sugar," the lawsuit said, "Splenda is not natural in any

sense of the

word. Instead, the truth about Splenda is that it is sweetened with a

synthetic

compound that is the result of a complex chemical process."

McNeil Nutritionals spokeswoman Monica Neufang said the lawsuit has

no merit.

"Splenda," she insisted, "is made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar."

 

According to the Fort Washington, PA based company, sucralose begins

its life as

pure cane sugar, which is then chemically altered during the

manufacturing

process to create a new compound that doesn't contain any calories. "We

have

never claimed that it is natural, nor would we. It is a sugar

substitute,"

Neufang said. "Consumers are not misled." Such disputes between

companies about

advertising truthfulness are often refereed by the National Advertising

Division

of the Better Business Bureau. Merisant sought to have the group

intervene, but

McNeil instead filed a lawsuit in a court in Puerto Rico earlier in

November

seeking to have its advertising claims declared valid. It isn't yet

certain

whether the court in Puerto Rico or the court in Philadelphia will get

final

jurisdiction over the dispute. Chicago-based Merisant asked the

Philadelphia

court to prohibit McNeil Nutritionals from making any further claims

associating

Splenda with sugar. It also asked a judge to order McNeil to pay

unspecified

cash damages, and to initiate a corrective advertising campaign

clarifying that

Splenda is a synthetic chemical.

Since its introduction in the United States in 2000, Splenda sales

have soared.

It has since passed Equal in the U.S. retail market for sugar

substitutes.