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By Any Other Name

Jessica Gomez of San Bernadino, Calif., has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Jelly Belly Candy Company. The suit revolves around “Sport Beans”, advertised as an “energizing” performance-enhancing product containing vitamins, electrolytes, and carbohydrates. One ingredient, Gomez’s attorneys say, is listed as “evaporated cane juice” — also known as sugar. The suit claims the name of the ingredient is “to make the product appear even more appropriate for athletes and less like a candy.” In its response, Jelly Belly was clear: “This is nonsense. No reasonable consumer could have been deceived by Sport Beans’ labeling.” Gomez could not have seen “evaporated cane juice” without also seeing the product’s sugar content in the same “Nutrition Facts” label, Jelly Belly’s attorneys said. “And she has pled no facts to suggest that athletes, who consume this product to sustain intense exercise, would want to avoid sugar rather than affirmatively seek it.” (MS/Los Angeles Times) ...Cane juice is sugar, sugar is sweet; if Gomez wins, she’s in for a treat.