Chobani Plastic Chemicals Lawsuit: Phthalates in Greek Yogurt and Zero Sugar Claims

Amy Wysocki filed a proposed class action in April 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, No. 3:25-cv-00907. She targeted Chobani Greek Yogurt Nonfat Plain and Greek Yogurt Whole Milk Plain, which are labeled "Only Natural Ingredients."

The case relied on testing published by PlasticList, an online project that reported in 2024 finding trace levels of four phthalates in the yogurts: di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), bis(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate (DEHT), and diethyl phthalate (DEP). Phthalates are chemicals used to make plastics flexible and appear in food packaging and processing equipment. The complaint said the "Only Natural Ingredients" label led shoppers to believe the yogurt was free of toxic plastic chemicals.

The complaint brought five counts: the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, Unfair Competition Law, and False Advertising Law, plus breach of express warranty and unjust enrichment. The three California statute claims were brought for a California class, and the warranty and unjust enrichment claims for a proposed nationwide class.

Chobani argued that the ingredients themselves are natural, that federal rules permit phthalates in certain food-contact materials, and that the complaint did not describe the testing with enough particularity. The court's order noted that PlasticList requires users to acknowledge a disclaimer before viewing its reports.

Judge James E. Simmons Jr. heard argument on Chobani's motion to dismiss on August 20, 2025 and ruled in a 25-page order on April 6, 2026. The court granted the motion only in part: it dismissed allegations based on DBP, the fraudulent omission theories, the unjust enrichment count, and requests for equitable relief, all with leave to amend, and denied the rest. The core false advertising and express warranty claims based on the other phthalates survived, and the court rejected Chobani's argument that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction.

The plaintiff filed an amended complaint on May 1, 2026, and Chobani moved to dismiss again on May 29, 2026. Then, according to the court docket, a dismissal filing was entered on July 20, 2026, and the court entered orders on July 21, 2026. We could not read the July filings themselves, and no class settlement has been announced, so no claim form exists.

Some websites said in 2025 that the court was about to dismiss the case. The April 2026 order shows it did not, at least at that stage. For how cases end without a class recovery, see what happens when a class action ends early.

The April ruling is still useful for shoppers and future cases. It held that a reasonable consumer could read "Only Natural Ingredients" as a promise about what is in the product, even when the challenged substances came from packaging or equipment rather than the recipe. Other courts have reached different results on similar labels, so the reasoning does not bind other judges, but it shows that the argument can survive a motion to dismiss. The court applied the class action pleading rules only at the complaint stage, before any evidence was tested.

A second Chobani case is more active. In Franco v. Chobani, LLC, No. 25-2087, consumers claimed Chobani Zero Sugar yogurt was deceptively labeled sugar free even though each serving contains 4 grams of allulose, a low-calorie sweetener. A federal trial court dismissed the case as preempted, relying on an October 2020 FDA guidance document that said the agency would not object if companies left allulose out of the "Total Sugars" line.

In July 2026, the Seventh Circuit reversed, holding that allulose is a sugar under FDA regulations and that a sugar free claim requires less than 0.5 grams of sugars per serving. At the court's invitation, the FDA filed a brief agreeing that its regulation defines total sugars to include all free monosaccharides and disaccharides. The case returned to the trial court as a proposed nationwide class action.

The ruling has prompted similar suits against other zero-sugar products, including Liquid I.V. sugar-free drink mixes.

The case matters beyond yogurt. Allulose is used in many sugar-free and keto products because it tastes like sugar with few calories. Until the Seventh Circuit's decision, companies relied on the FDA's October 2020 guidance, which said the agency intended to exercise enforcement discretion for manufacturers that left allulose out of the Total Sugars declaration. The Seventh Circuit held that the regulation itself, 21 CFR 101.9(c)(6)(ii), defines total sugars as all free monosaccharides and disaccharides, so guidance about enforcement did not change what a "sugar free" claim may say. Chobani can continue to defend the case on other grounds, such as whether shoppers were actually misled or harmed.

Phthalates are a family of chemicals used to make plastics soft and flexible. They are found in food packaging, tubing, and processing equipment, as well as in many non-food products. Because food often touches plastic somewhere between the farm and the store, trace amounts can end up in foods that contain no plastic ingredients at all.

Federal rules allow certain phthalates in food-contact materials. The court's April 6, 2026 order noted that FDA regulations permit DEHP in adhesives (21 CFR 175.105) and in resinous and polymeric coatings (21 CFR 175.300), and DEHT as a plasticizer (21 CFR 177.1210). Chobani relied on those rules to argue that trace phthalates are lawful and expected. The plaintiff's response was that a label saying "Only Natural Ingredients" leads shoppers to expect no synthetic chemicals of any kind, regardless of how they got there.

The testing itself was also contested. The order noted that PlasticList requires users to view and accept a disclaimer before seeing its reports, and the court dismissed the DBP allegations for lack of particularity while letting claims about the other three phthalates go forward. That shows how much these cases depend on the details of who tested what, and how.

For shoppers, the practical point is that phthalates are hard to avoid entirely and that the court did not decide whether the levels reported were harmful. If you want to reduce exposure, general steps such as avoiding heating food in plastic are common advice from health agencies, but they do not affect any legal claim. See also the Nature Made prenatal case, which relied on the same PlasticList testing.

You probably qualify for a future Zero Sugar recovery if you bought Chobani Zero Sugar products labeled sugar free during the class period the court eventually sets. For the phthalates case, there is currently no active class to join. You do not need to sign up now. See how class members are included and class certification.

If you are unsure which Chobani products you bought, check grocery delivery apps and store loyalty accounts, which often keep years of item-level history. The phthalates case named only the plain Greek yogurts in nonfat and whole milk versions, not flavored cups or other Chobani lines. The Zero Sugar case is about the products sold under the Zero Sugar name with allulose. Buyers of other Chobani products, such as oat milk or creamers, are not part of either case.

Neither case has settled, so there is no payout figure. Yogurt costs a few dollars per cup or tub, so any refund settlement would likely pay modest per-unit amounts, with a cap for buyers without receipts and more for those with purchase records. As of September 2026, no court had approved a Chobani settlement, claim form, or payout schedule in any case. Be wary of websites that claim you can file a Chobani claim today. For how these amounts are calculated, see how class action money is divided.

Food labeling cases in California are judged by the reasonable consumer standard: would an ordinary shopper, acting reasonably, be misled? In Wysocki, the court applied that standard to the words "Only Natural Ingredients" and found the claims plausible enough to proceed, even though phthalates are not added ingredients but can migrate from packaging or equipment.

Preemption was the key issue in Franco. Federal law bars states from imposing food labeling rules that differ from FDA requirements, but state claims that mirror the federal rule are allowed. Because the Seventh Circuit read the FDA regulation to count allulose as a sugar, a state claim saying "sugar free" is misleading matches the federal rule and can go forward.

California's Consumers Legal Remedies Act has a 3-year statute of limitations, and its Unfair Competition Law has 4 years. Illinois and other states set their own deadlines, and filing a class action generally pauses them for proposed members.

No Chobani claim form exists as of September 2026, so there is nothing to file today.

1. Save grocery and delivery app histories that show Chobani Zero Sugar and plain Greek yogurt purchases.
2. Photograph labels with "Sugar Free" or "Only Natural Ingredients" claims.
3. If a settlement is announced, file only on the official, court-approved settlement website.

If you believe you have a larger individual claim, independent attorneys can look at it. A free case review takes about two minutes. Related: plastic chemicals in Nature Made prenatal vitamins and fairlife milk.

How the free case review works: you answer a few questions about what you bought and when, at no cost and with no obligation. If your situation fits the cases independent attorneys are handling, one of them may contact you. If a Chobani settlement is ever approved, you will file on the official settlement website, not through us.

There is no Chobani claim deadline because no settlement exists. If the Zero Sugar case settles, the settlement will set a claim deadline and separate opt-out and objection dates, and notice will usually go out by email, online ads, or both. Keep an eye out for notices that point to an official settlement website.