As if General Mills Inc. hasn't had enough problems in the Greek yogurt market, with its venerable Yoplait brand falling well behind the competition.
Now the packaged foods giant is in a court battle over whether its Yoplait Greek yogurt is, well, Greek yogurt, or even yogurt at all under federal food regulations.
A Chicago resident has sued General Mills claiming it isn't, and the Minneapolis-based law firm Zimmerman Reed is angling to make the case a class action. General Mills argues that the suit misinterprets federal regulations, and that its Greek yogurt is indeed yogurt.
The Golden Valley-based packaged foods maker, one of the nation's two yogurt giants along with Groupe Danone, has asked that the suit be thrown out. A federal judge in Minneapolis is scheduled to hear arguments on that request Friday.
No-fat or low-fat Greek-style yogurt has gone from a niche product to dean of the dairy case in the past two years. It's where the growth is in the roughly $5 billion U.S. yogurt business. But General Mills got into the Greek market late and is playing catch-up.
Compared with mainstream U.S. yogurt, Greek-style is a thicker, richer yogurt with at least twice as much protein. Most Greek yogurts have these characteristics because they are strained to remove liquid whey, the watery portion of milk.
General Mills, however, makes its Greek-style yogurt with a thickener called "milk protein concentrate," which comes from filtering skim milk to remove non-protein elements.
Plaintiffs' argument