'Vanilla Vigilante' BK Shopper Sues Whole Foods Over Soy Milk

BROOKLYN, NY — A Brooklyn Whole Foods shopper upset about the flavor of her soy milk has joined onto a legal crusade that could have companies shell out $135 million for the way they package their vanilla-flavored products.

Walleta Burke, of East Flatbush, filed a $5 million lawsuit against Whole Foods this week claiming that the company's advertising of their own brand of soy milk is misleading customers into thinking there is only real vanilla in its ingredients, according to the suit.

And Burke isn't alone. Her lawsuit is just one of 27 suits a New York attorney dubbed the "vanilla vigilante" has waged against food makers across the country in the name of vanilla "food fraud."

The attorney, Spencer Sheehan from Long Island, argues that everything from yogurt, to cookies, to ice cream are mislabeled as vanilla when they really are using some form of a substitute for the highly-coveted vanilla beans.

"Consumers are misled — they expect [labels] to mean certain things and it might mean different things," Sheehan told Patch. "They have certain expectations because the law requires companies advertise the presence of vanilla flavor."

Sheehan's 25-page breakdown of how Whole Foods 365 brand of soy milk deceived Burke includes a list of a dozen ways companies add in vanilla flavor without actually using the plant, which he says is in limited supply.

Food makers will do everything from using a synthetic substitute, vanillin, to adding beans only to give the "specks" that give customers the illusion that there's more vanilla than there is, the lawsuit claims.

The suit doesn't specify exactly which method Whole Foods used for its soy milk, but says the ingredient list on the back of the bottle proves that more fake vanilla than real vanilla was used.

The list puts "natural flavors" above "organic vanilla extract," meaning there is more of the flavoring than the actual vanilla even though the front label says the milk is "vanilla," not "vanilla-flavored," the lawsuit contends.

"The unqualified, prominent and conspicuous representations as “Vanilla” is false, deceptive and misleading because the Products contain flavoring other than vanilla, as revealed by “Natural Flavor” and “Organic Natural Flavor” on the ingredient lists," the lawsuit says.

Sheehan contends companies intentionally lead customers to believe they're only the real ingredients so they can sell the products for a higher price — in the case of the soy milk, for $4.99 per 64-ounce bottle.

Had Burke known about this flavoring breakdown, she wouldn't have spent the five bucks, the lawsuit said.

Whole Foods did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sheehan said none of the companies have offered responses to his suits so far. Right now, he is focused on a case against the A&W beverage company over cream soda, he said.

The attorney said he doesn't know, or couldn't reveal, exactly how much soy milk Burke bought from the high-end supermarket or which New York City location she shopped at.

The $5 million he asks for in each suit is based on the "standard amount" in these types of cases that is required to have jurisdiction in Eastern District Court of New York, where he filed all 27.