US Lawsuits Claim Deceptive Labeling of Fish Oil Supplement

Lawsuits have been filed in the California federal courts alleging that fish oil products do not contain fish oil, the Oils & Fats International reported last week citing JD Supra report. The lawsuits targeted well-known dietary supplement products, such as Dr Tobias Omega 3 Fish Triple Strength (by Mimi’s Rock) and GNC-brand Triple Strength Fish Oil (by International Vitamin and Nutra Manufacturing), the report said. 

The allegations focused on the process used to create fish oil supplements, transesterification, which is a chemical process used to obtain fatty acid ethyl esters from fish oil achieved by introducing an alcohol catalyst to the fatty triglycerides. The lawsuits claimed that the transesterification process intrinsically left the finished supplement products without any of the omega-3 fatty acids DHA or EPA. 

The plaintiffs also alleged that the resulting omega-3 molecules in the finished post-transesterification product were different to the omega-3 molecules naturally found in fish oil, the report added. Such thus misled the public with false and deceptive labeling which violates federal and state laws.