Golda ice cream chain faces huge class action lawsuit, accused of falsely labeling flavors ‘sugar-free’

The Central District Court has accepted and will hear a class action lawsuit against major ice cream chain Golda, that is seeking hundreds of millions in compensation from the company for allegedly misleading customers regarding sugar-free flavors.

The lawsuit alleges that for several years, the company sold two flavors — coffee and hazelnut — that were labeled as sugar-free, when in fact they had 13 times the amount of sugar allowed for such labeling under regulations (6.6 grams per 100g compared to a limit of 0.5g per 100g).

Golda claimed in its defense that the reasonable customer would understand that “no sugar” meant “no added sugar.” Judge Iris Rabinovitch-Brun rejected this assertion.

“The claim that the products were consumed as a result of the alleged misrepresentation is one that warrants examination as part of the lawsuit,” she writes. “There is grounds to assume that the ice cream was purchased and consumed under the impression that it was sugar-free. There is reason to believe that the sugar content of the product is a material consideration for a consumer purchasing ice cream labeled ‘sugar-free’ at an ice cream shop where the vast majority of the ice creams are not sugar-free.”

The lawyers leading the lawsuit assess the damages, if proven at court, could come to some NIS 350 million ($117 million).

Attorney Ori Eldar tells Channel 12: “The decision [to hear the case] sends a clear message to the food industry: anyone who labels a product ‘sugar-free’ must stand behind those words and their plain meaning. Consumers seeking to avoid sugar, including people with diabetes and those following specific diets, are entitled to rely on the sign in front of them.”