Jessica Alba's Honest Co. is in hot water again after the Organic Consumers Association filed a lawsuit over claims that the company's infant formula contained synthetic ingredients that can be harmful. Moreover, the OCA accused the company of misleading the public by presenting its products as ‘organic' when it is not.
Since its introduction in 2011, the Honest Company has been known to sell alternative home essentials that are non-toxic and only made with the best plant-based materials. Likewise, most of its items are labeled as ‘organic' and the company prides itself with all-natural ingredients.
Honest Company has been very successful and it just keeps on growing since day one. It may still be new and launched just five years ago, but it already accumulated $170 million sales in 2014. As of August 2015, Honest was already valued at $1.7 billion.
Then again, despite the success, it has been plagued with various lawsuits as people started questioning the efficiency and safety of their products. Many users are coming out to air discontent as well complaints regarding Honest's items. The latest suit was lodged by OCA and it accused the brand of mislabeling its goods and jeopardizing consumer's health.
"The Honest Co. is falsely representing its Premium Infant Formula as 'organic' even though this product contains 11 synthetic substances prohibited under federal law in organic products," associate director of the Organic Consumers Association Katherine Paul told ABC News.
She added that falsely labeling the infant formula's package as organic is unacceptable. The suit that was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court further enumerated at least 11 ingredients which they said are synthetic substances and prohibited for use in organic products, but were added to Honest infant milk.
The OCA also charged Alba's company with violation of California's Organic Products Act of 2003. In the lawsuit obtained by New York Post, it was stated that out of the 40 ingredients in the baby formula, "more than a quarter are synthetic."
It was also claimed in the suit that some of the ingredients have been classified as hazardous compounds by the food bureau while others have yet to be appraised and declared as safe for humans. In particular, the group mentioned sodium selenite, taurine, cholecalciferol and calcium panthothenate as the hazardous ingredients in the supposedly organic baby formula.
Finally, Paul said that they want Honest to either stop using the said ingredients or remove ‘organic' in the labels. On the other hand, Honest is confident that this case would be dismissed since it claim to follow the strict guidelines set by the National Organic Program.
Watch Alba's Honest Company asks for toxic chemical reform from the US senate: