Costco faces lawsuit over ‘100% agave’ claim
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Costco alleging the retail giant has falsely labelled and marketed its Tequila brand as ‘100% agave’.
Ariel Glazer filed a lawsuit against Costco Wholesale Corporation on 31 October in the US District Court, Southern District of California.
It was filed on behalf of all US consumers that have purchased ‘falsely labelled and marketed Tequila’ from the American multinational’s Kirkland brand.
The Florida-based plaintiff claimed to have conducted testing of Kirkland Tequila using a ‘peer-reviewed and scientifically-validated methodology’.
Glazer said nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) testing was used to confirm through carbon isotope ratio analysis whether a bottle of Kirkland Signature Añejo Cristalino was ‘adulterated with cane alcohol’.
According to the lawsuit, this test showed that the Tequila contained ‘material amounts of ethanol not derived from agave plants’. Furthermore, it also noted that the product did not meet the necessary parameters for mixto Tequila – a type of Tequila that is made with 49% non-agave sugars and 51% Blue agave sugar.
As a result of this result, the plaintiff argues that Costco is selling a product that does not meet US or Mexico regulatory requirements for ‘100% agave’ Tequila, alleging that the test implicates the entire Kirkland range.
Glazer is seeking a jury trial and injunction to stop Costco from ‘continuing to engage in false, misleading, and deceptive advertising and marketing practices’.
The Spirits Business has approached Costco for comment.
Kirkland produces a range of five Tequilas, which state on the label that the product is ‘100% de agave’. The Tequilas are priced between US$18.69 and US$48.99 on Costco’s same-day delivery service, powered by Instacart.
The Consejo Regulador del Tequila (CRT), the regulatory body for Tequila, oversees the Tequila NOM (Norma Oficial Mexicana), a four-digit number that is required to be classified as an official Tequila brand.
The NOM imposes strict documentation requirements to ensure that Tequila ‘has not been adulterated in the manufacturing stages of its production’.
According to Agave Matchmaker, Kirkland Tequila is made at NOM 1173, which corresponds to the Santa Lucía distillery in Jalisco. On its website, the distillery lists brands such as El Destilador, Tequila Especial Newton, La Puerta Negra, and Tierra Azteca.
The law stipulates that a producer can include up to 1% of additives in their Tequila without having to state it on the label. As such, a bottle labelled ‘100% agave’ could still contain a small amount of additives, which can be confusing.
Producers tend to use additives, such as colourants or sweeteners, to ensure consistency of the liquid.
Tequila brands face scrutiny
Costco is the latest company to be hit by a lawsuit regarding the agave content of its Tequilas.
Diageo was hit by several class action lawsuits in the US for its Don Julio and Casamigos Tequila brands, which alleged that they were not 100% agave.
However, the drinks giant recently filed a motion to dismiss the class action lawsuits in New York and Florida, arguing the allegations are “baseless” and built on “unvalidated testing”.
Meanwhile, Michael Jordan’s Cincoro Tequila brand was on the receiving end of a similar 100% agave lawsuit in August.
A Cincoro spokesperson also denied the accusation and said the brand would defend its integrity in court.
The industry is facing increased calls for transparency regarding the use of additives in their products.
However, the CRT does not currently allow Tequila brands to label or promote their products as ‘additive free’, claiming that this can’t be scientifically proven.
In April, Bacardi said it was in “constructive conversations” with the CRT to address the topic of additives transparently following a temporary ban on Patrón exports.
A month earlier, the CRT took legal action against the Additive Free Alliance, which had previously published a list of Tequila brands it deemed to be ‘additive free’.
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