On August 2, 2010 Ocean Spray filed a lawsuit against Decas Cranberry Products over what the company called an “unlawful and malicious campaign” against its “Choice” sweetened dried cranberry. This is a commercial ingredient product sold to customers in manufacturing and processing. Decas launched the campaign in 2009 which included letters, e-mails, a Facebook and Twitter account, a website, a blog, and a YouTube video. Decas claims that Ocean Spray is misbranding its product with a deceptive food label. It is positioned as healthy and is made from whole cranberries when, in fact, it is made up of 70% sugar and only 30% cranberry.
Decas, a small competitor of Ocean Spray, strongly felt the need to keep this manufacturer honest. It has spent a lot of time and energy on doing so. Its last five Decas blog posts have been about Ocean Spray and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the headline on its website reads “Your Trusted Cranberry Business Partner.” If anything, the controversy has definitely shed some light on the importance of accurate product labeling, as well as brought cranberries as an ingredient into the mainstream news.
Ocean Spray has reacted to the smear campaign by filing a lawsuit against Decas. Read this article to learn more about Ocean Spray’s response.