Chobani Lawsuit: Everything You Need to Know About
If you’re from the States, you are already familiar with Chobani. It is considered among the most popular yogurt brands. But this popular brand, which holds over 44 percent of the US Greek yogurt market, has faced public backlash and lawsuits.
In the last 2 years, Chobani has been embroiled in a series of high-profile lawsuits involving product labeling, ingredient claims, food safety allegations, trademark conflicts, and competitor challenges.
None of the big cases are on trial yet, but they are among the largest in the yogurt maker’s legal history. In this article, we are going to cover everything about the lawsuits against the popular company Chobani.
Severity of Lawsuits Held against Chobani
The lawsuits cover several aspects of food law. Consumer class actions have targeted Chobani’s “Only Natural Ingredients” marketing and “Zero Sugar” claims. Meanwhile, competitor Danone has filed lawsuits against cold brew coffee labels and protein claims.
Chobani has consistently denied any misconduct, stating that its products meet applicable requirements and comply with FDA guidance.
Overview of Chobani’s Legal Challenges
The recent allegations against Chobani can broadly be broken down into four categories:
- Consumer lawsuits against claims of ‘Only Natural Ingredients’
- Dispute over product labeling: “Zero Sugar” yogurt.
- Trademark and packaging litigation with Danone.
- Competitive claims for protein labeling.
What is common among these lawsuits is that they all revolve around whether Chobani’s marketing accurately reflects its products and complies with federal and state regulations. So it is a clear case of Chobani making false claims and running advertisements that actually don’t reflect their claims.
Chobani’s Response to the Lawsuits
Chobani denies the claims and states that its products meet FDA requirements. They also deny intentionally adding phthalates as an ingredient to the product. Not just that, but they also come forward to defend their packaging materials, claiming they comply with the relevant safety regulations. In response to their claims, they say that the “Only Natural Ingredients” label, governed by the law, is not misleading.
The company has stressed that the trace chemicals mentioned in the complaint are from food packaging, not from deliberately added ingredients.
Current Status of the Lawsuits against Chobani
In April 2026, the judge granted the plaintiff’s motion to dismiss the case in part, holding that she met her burden of showing she relied on the misleading labels.
The court granted permission for most of the claims to proceed and granted leave to amend one phthalate claim. It has not been determined if the allegations are true.
Albrigo v. Chobani LLC
Albrigo v. Chobani LLC is a lawsuit filed in August of 2024 alleging that Chobani is marketing its product as Zero Sugar Greek Yogurt without fully understanding the potential claims associated with that label. Albrigo v. Chobani LLC is a lawsuit filed in the summer of 2024 against the marketing of Chobani’s Zero Sugar Greek Yogurt products.
The plaintiff claims the products are deceptive because they are labeled as containing “Only Natural Ingredients” but actually contain processed ingredients, including stevia leaf extract, monk fruit extract, and coloring agents.
However, according to the lawsuit, “natural” suggests that the product contains minimally processed ingredients, and Chobani’s label conveys a false impression.
Court Proceedings
In July 2025, Judge Cheeks granted some of the lawsuit’s request to proceed. In particular, the court determined that claims based on monk fruit and stevia extracts could plausibly support consumer protection claims.
But claims against some of the coloring agents were dismissed with leave to amend due to insufficient factual support in the complaint on those issues.
The Zero Sugar Class Action
In addition to the “natural ingredients” litigation, there was a class action lawsuit against Chobani, Franco v. Chobani LLC, over its “Zero Sugar” labeling.
The consumers said that the yogurt contains naturally occurring sugar, namely allulose, and should not have been sold as zero sugar.
Court Decision on the Matter
This case was dismissed, whereas the other cases were not. According to Judge Tharp, FDA guidance leaves it to manufacturers to choose which sugars to include in the total sugar declaration on nutrition panels. The plaintiffs’ state-law claims were preempted because federal policy supported Chobani’s “labeling, and thus preempted the plaintiffs’ state-law claims.
The termination was a significant legal win for Chobani and a sign that the company believes it has followed the FDA’s advice regarding its use of the Zero Sugar branding on its products.
Danone’s Trademark Lawsuit
In the federal trademark lawsuit, competitor Danone challenged Chobani’s ready-to-drink cold brew coffee products as a violation of its trademark for “La Colombe Coffee.”Danone sued Chobani for infringing its “La Colombe Coffee” trademark after the company acquired the brand in late 2023.
According to Danone, Chobani’s use of the trade dress La Colombe is an unauthorized use of the trade dress because it copies the trade dress of Stōk Cold Brew in the following ways:
- similar black-and-yellow packaging,
- The phrase “Bright & Mellow” was used,
- Overall, the product will leave consumers confused.
Danone is seeking damages and injunctive relief under the Lanham Act.
Chobani’s Defense
Chobani moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that:
- Bright’ and ‘Mellow’ are descriptive terms,
- consumers don’t automatically think of those words with Stōk,
- Danone is attempting to monopolize common descriptive language.
The court hadn’t yet ruled on Chobani’s motion by the middle of 2026.
A lawsuit involving Danone’s Protein Labeling Lawsuit
In June 2026, Danone sued again, seeking to block Chobani’s “20G Protein” yogurts. Danone alleges that Chobani inflates its protein claims by using a larger serving size than the FDA allegedly requires for multi-serving containers.
The complaint alleges that Chobani’s serving size is based on a different calculation that yields about 18 grams of protein, whereas the company claims 20 grams.
Danone’s Logic
Danone argues that this allegedly gives consumers the false impression that Chobani’s product has the same protein density as Danone’s competing Oikos Pro yogurt. The lawsuit requests profits, corrective advertising, and injunctive relief.
As the suit was just recently filed, Chobani had not made a substantive public response at the time of the research. This case is still in its infancy.
FAQs
Why is Chobani being sued?
Chobani has been engaged in several lawsuits related to product labeling, the ‘Only Natural Ingredients’ claim, protein claims, and trademark issues with competitor Danone.
Is Chobani accountable?
According to the investigation, none of the major lawsuits has resulted in a final verdict against Chobani.
The One Zero Sugar class action was dismissed, and several others are still pending.
What is the Phthalate Lawsuit?
Chobani advertised some of its yogurts with the claim “Only Natural Ingredients,” but according to the Wysocki lawsuit, lab tests reportedly revealed trace amounts of phthalates.
Chobani refutes the claims and says its products meet requirements.
What does Danone’s lawsuit complain about?
Danone has sued twice: once for infringing on its trademark rights to the packaging of its La Colombe cold brew coffee, and again for its dispute with Chobani over how it labels its protein. Both remain pending.
Conclusion
Chobani’s recent legal setbacks show the evolving landscape of food marketing, consumer protection, and competitive business principles. The lawsuits cover everything from “natural” ingredient claims and nutrition labeling to trademark claims and packaging design, reflecting a wide range of industry discussions about the marketing of food products.
Some claims have already been rejected, such as the Franco Zero Sugar case, and others are still in court. Chobani has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and stated that its products and labels comply with FDA laws and guidance. Many of the allegations remain unresolved, and no court has ruled on the major pending cases.
As these lawsuits play out, they could set the bar for how yogurt is labeled, marketed, and made transparent to consumers in the future, and could influence the marketing and labeling practices of their own and other food products.
