• by Nina Lentini  @Nina_Lentini, February 2, 2007

Coca-Cola and Nestle are facing a lawsuit filed yesterday by the Center for Science in the Public Interest over their Enviga sparkling green-tea drink, which departing Coke executive Mary Minnick helped launch last year.

The suit alleges the companies have been making fraudulent claims in marketing and labeling the new artificially sweetened green tea soft drink.

A spokesperson for Enviga said Beverage Partners Worldwide, the partnership between Coke and Nestle that handles Enviga, would "energetically oppose this meritless lawsuit."

Enviga is marketed under the Nestea umbrella as a "negative calorie" product that boosts metabolism. One of Coke's scientists has said that studies show three cans a day of Enviga will burn a net average of 60 to 100 calories.

The brand--which claims twice the amount of the green-tea extract Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) of its competitors--rolled out in the New York metropolitan area in November and goes national this month. It is also being tested in global markets. Enviga competes against the recently launched Celsius, a calorie-burning drink marketed by Elite FX.

In December, CSPI warned of a lawsuit if Coke and Nestle continued to use "the unsubstantiated calorie-burning and weight-loss claims."

The Enviga spokesperson disputed the "unsupported allegations"--adding that the product is not positioned as a weight-loss item, but one that can be beneficial when used with exercise and a sensible diet.

CSPI's lawsuit strategy helped spur KFC to drop trans fat, it said, and resulted in improved labeling of products made by Tropicana, Quaker, Frito-Lay, Procter & Gamble, Kraft, and Cadbury-Schweppes.

CSPI also said it is soon likely to file a major lawsuit aimed at stopping Kellogg and Viacom (parent of the Nickelodeon television channel) from marketing junk food to young children.

"If the Food and Drug Administration were at all credible, major corporations like Coca-Cola and Nestlé wouldn't try to take consumers to the cleaners like this," said CSPI Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson. "Imagine-two of the companies partly responsible for the general fattening of America are now urging us to pay them to slim down with Enviga. The chutzpah!"

"We respect our consumers and trust them to inform themselves and make good decisions," said an Enviga spokesperson. "CSPI has sound bites; we have sound science."

In the $941-million dollar global tea market, green tea accounts for about 20% of production; black tea, 78. Some teas have benefited from reports that the beverage's antioxidants help ward off such diseases as cancer.