Yogurt Blog

Yogurt, being a household staple worldwide, has very few issues attributed with it. However, like all things, a few issues have recently arisen; most noticeably being the class action lawsuits against leading yogurt brands. The main claim of these lawsuits is that the plastic packaging leaks microplastics into the actual product. Multiple brands are involved in lawsuits over this claim but the most popular in the discourse community is Amy Wysocki vs. Chobani LLC, a case filed in the California federal court.

According to Top Class Actions, Chobani is being sued for failing to disclose harmful plastic chemicals known as Phthalates. Wysocki also claims that third-party testing has revealed that numerous other plastic chemicals, stemming from the plastic packaging. Not only is this against state and federal consumer laws, but it also completely contradicts Chobani’s brand and packaging; where they state that their products include “only natural ingredients”, which is entirely disproved by the testing results. A lot of other leading yogurt companies are facing similar issues such as Dannon LLC. The Environmental Projection Agency (EPA) has also recently been dragged into the case, as they have reported that Chobani and other brand’s products likely contain carcinogens. Another article, published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), discusses the contamination of microplastics in flavored yogurt and the impacts on our health. The article does not name any brands, however, due to prior knowledge — the article very likely is referring to big yogurt brands including Chobani and Dannon. The authors of this article were able to use statistics to determine if microplastics can be found in flavored yogurt and the result was overwhelmingly positive. With both articles, it is clear that the contamination of microplastics in yogurt is a prominent and current issue in the yogurt community. Despite what some might think, not all of the yogurt community is opposed to this issue; in fact, the whole community is split.

Both the Chobani case and the general pollution of microplastics in yogurt have been widely discussed amongst many social media platforms; including but not limited to TikTok, Instagram, and X. The community has essentially split down the middle on this topic: with some refraining from purchasing yogurt in plastic containers or yogurt in general, while others remain unaffected: arguing that if Chobani has to change their packaging, so does every other big brand of yogurt. This issue impacts everyone who consumes yogurt however, not everyone changes how they consume yogurt based on this issue.