The Celestial Seasonings natural claims lawsuit is a proposed class action filed in January 2026 by five consumers who say the company’s “no artificial flavors” labeling on several herbal teas is false because the products contain synthetically manufactured citric acid. The case, Carpenter et al. v. Celestial Seasonings, Inc., is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, and the company’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint is currently before the court.
Which Teas Are Named in the Lawsuit
The complaint, filed January 8, 2026, targets five Celestial Seasonings products:1ClassAction.org. Carpenter et al. v. Celestial Seasonings, Inc. Complaint
- Lemon Zinger Herbal Tea
- Peach + Probiotics Herbal Tea
- Country Peach Passion Herbal Tea
- Jammin’ Lemon Ginger Herbal Tea
- Wild Berry Zinger Herbal Tea
According to the plaintiffs, the packaging on these teas carries statements such as “Naturally Flavored with Other Natural Flavors” and “no artificial flavors or colors.” Celestial Seasonings also tells consumers on its website that its natural flavors are “derived from real ingredients” and “do not contain artificial or synthetic additives.”2Celestial Seasonings. Frequently Asked Questions The lawsuit challenges those representations head-on.
Why Plaintiffs Say the Citric Acid Is Not Natural
The complaint calls the ingredient at issue “manufactured citric acid,” or MCA. Plaintiffs allege that roughly 99% of commercial citric acid is not extracted from fruit but is instead produced by fermenting sugar with a mutant strain of the black mold Aspergillus niger, with chemical solvents used during extraction.3ClassAction.org. Celestial Seasonings Lawsuit Alleges No Artificial Flavors Claim on Tea Labels Is False They contend that a product made with this substance cannot honestly be called free of artificial flavors.
Plaintiffs also point to the ingredient panels themselves. On the Lemon Zinger box, for instance, “Natural Lemon Flavor with Other Natural Flavors” is listed, and then “Citric Acid” appears as a separate ingredient.4Celestial Seasonings. Herbal Tea Sampler The complaint calls that separation a “tacit admission” that Celestial Seasonings does not treat its citric acid as a natural ingredient.3ClassAction.org. Celestial Seasonings Lawsuit Alleges No Artificial Flavors Claim on Tea Labels Is False Plaintiffs further allege that the citric acid functions as a flavoring agent to boost tartness rather than as a preservative, which matters because a “no artificial flavors” claim would be directly misleading if the synthetic ingredient is doing flavor work.
Legal Claims and Who the Proposed Class Covers
The complaint brings two causes of action: violations of the Colorado Consumer Protection Act and the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Plaintiffs seek monetary damages, equitable relief, attorneys’ fees, and a jury trial. Their theory of harm is a price premium — they say they paid more for the teas than they would have if they had known the citric acid was synthetic.1ClassAction.org. Carpenter et al. v. Celestial Seasonings, Inc. Complaint
The proposed nationwide class covers anyone in the United States who bought one of the five named teas for household use between January 8, 2022, and the present. Separate state subclasses are proposed for Illinois, Washington, Minnesota, and New York, with slightly different lookback periods; the Minnesota subclass reaches back to January 2020.1ClassAction.org. Carpenter et al. v. Celestial Seasonings, Inc. Complaint Excluded from the class are Celestial Seasonings, its corporate affiliates, officers, employees, and any judge assigned to the case. The named plaintiffs are Michelle Carpenter, Jaquay Davis, Rebekah Myatt Hammonds, Amber Rust, and Nanci Selk.
Where the Case Stands Now
Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint on February 26, 2026. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney.5Docket Alarm. Carpenter et al. v. Celestial Seasonings Inc.
On March 26, 2026, Celestial Seasonings moved to dismiss the amended complaint and asked the court to take judicial notice of an FDA webpage and materials from a separate proceeding. Plaintiffs opposed, and the company filed its reply on April 30, 2026.6PACER Monitor. Carpenter et al. v. Celestial Seasonings, Inc. As of mid-2026, that motion remains pending. In the meantime, the court entered a scheduling order in April and issued protective orders in May covering discovery, so the case is moving forward on parallel tracks while the dismissal question is decided.5Docket Alarm. Carpenter et al. v. Celestial Seasonings Inc. The case number is 1:26-cv-00086.
A related suit, Hauser et al. v. Celestial Seasonings, Inc., was filed in the Western District of Pennsylvania in March 2026 with similar allegations about the Fruit Tea Sampler and synthetic citric acid.7Truthinadvertising.org. Celestial Seasonings Fruit Tea Sampler
How Similar Citric Acid Cases Have Been Decided
The Celestial Seasonings case sits inside a broader wave of class actions attacking manufactured citric acid in products marketed as natural. Results have been mixed, but plaintiffs have won more of the early rounds than they have lost.
In November 2024, an Illinois federal court denied Kraft Heinz’s motion to dismiss in Hayes v. Kraft Heinz Co., holding that the plaintiffs had adequately alleged fermentation-derived citric acid is artificial and chemically distinct from the fruit-derived version.8Inside Class Actions. Illinois Federal Court Permits Citric Acid Case to Proceed In May 2025, a California federal judge refused to dismiss a case challenging the “100% Natural Flavors” label on Sprite and Fanta, finding that the plaintiff sufficiently alleged Coca-Cola knowingly misrepresented its labeling.9Bloomberg Law. Coca-Cola Fails to Shake Suit Over 100% Natural Flavors Label A New York court that same month denied Coca-Cola’s motion to dismiss a suit over the “No Preservatives Added” claim on Minute Maid Fruit Punch.3ClassAction.org. Celestial Seasonings Lawsuit Alleges No Artificial Flavors Claim on Tea Labels Is False
Not every case has survived. A New York court dismissed similar claims against Snapple in March 2024 because the plaintiff did not allege how the fermented citric acid differed chemically from the natural version, and in March 2025 an Illinois court dismissed a citric acid claim against La Terra Fina because the plaintiff failed to allege that the defendant’s specific citric acid was synthetic rather than naturally sourced.8Inside Class Actions. Illinois Federal Court Permits Citric Acid Case to Proceed The pattern: cases that tie the defendant’s own ingredient to the broader industry practice of fermentation-derived citric acid tend to move past the pleading stage.
The FDA has not resolved whether fermentation-derived citric acid counts as natural or synthetic. The agency’s regulations acknowledge the Aspergillus niger extraction process and address it under solvent-extraction provisions at 21 CFR §173.280.10FDA. Microorganisms and Microbial-Derived Ingredients Used in Food Plaintiffs in these cases frequently cite FDA warning letters from 2001 stating that synthetic citric acid cannot be used in products labeled “All Natural,” but broader formal guidance has not followed. That regulatory gap is one reason courts have generally allowed the natural-versus-synthetic question to reach discovery rather than resolving it on a motion to dismiss.
Prior Natural Labeling Claims Against Celestial Seasonings
This is not the first time Celestial Seasonings has faced this kind of suit. In 2013, a class action was filed in the Central District of California alleging that several Celestial Seasonings teas contained pesticide residues despite “100% Natural” marketing. That case, In Re: Hain Celestial Seasonings Products Consumer Litigation, relied on testing by the lab Eurofins, which reportedly found that 91% of tested Celestial Seasonings teas contained pesticide levels exceeding federal limits.11ClassAction.org. Von Slomski v. Hain Celestial Group, Inc. Complaint
In June 2014, Judge Andrew J. Guilford denied the company’s motion to dismiss, holding that the complaint adequately alleged that a reasonable consumer could be deceived by the “100% Natural” label. He rejected the argument that “100% Natural” was puffery, writing that “misdescriptions of specific or absolute characteristics of a product are actionable,” and he declined to stay the case pending FDA guidance on the term “natural.”12Top Class Actions. Celestial Seasonings Tea Class Action Lawsuit Survives Dismissal
Consumers who bought one of the five named teas since January 2022 (or earlier, in the state subclasses) are within the proposed class as currently defined. The case would still need to survive dismissal and win class certification before any recovery would be possible, and no settlement or judgment has been entered.