Gatorade
Facts-only compliance record. Every entry is source-backed and dated.
Event Timeline
Class II voluntary recall: Gatorade Protein Bar Peanut Butter Chocolate (F-0997-2024); recalling firm is The Quaker Oats Co.
The Quaker Oats Co. (Danville, Illinois) is the recalling firm on a voluntary Class II line for a Gatorade-branded product (FDA event_id 93631; recall number F-0997-2024). openFDA product description: Gatorade Protein Bar Peanut Butter Chocolate 2.8 oz; 1 count; 6 count; 12 count. Reason text: potential Salmonella. Voluntary: Firm initiated. Status Terminated; recall initiation date 2023-12-15; center classification date 2024-02-27; report date 2024-03-06; termination date 2024-11-20. Distribution pattern on this line: "This product was distributed and sold nationally in all states, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Saipan, as well as outside of the United States." Code info on this line: Best Before of Aug-02-24 and any earlier date. The product_quantity field on this line reads "22,512,942 total cases for all products." openFDA reports 65 results for event_id 93631. A search of that event limited to product_description Gatorade returns this one line, so that quantity is the figure printed on the line for the event, not a Gatorade-only count. The Quaker Oats Company's January 11, 2024 FDA company announcement expands the December 15, 2023 recall and, under the heading GATORADE PROTEIN PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE BARS, lists Gatorade Protein Bar Peanut Butter Chocolate in 2.8 oz (UPC 052000010121), 2.8 oz 6 Count (UPC 052000041132), and 2.8 oz 12 Count (UPC 052000010138), with a best-before range of JAN 11 24 through APR 10 24. That announcement says the products listed in it are sold throughout the 50 United States, Puerto Rico, Guam and Saipan. This entry uses the openFDA recall initiation date. The recalling firm named on the enforcement record is The Quaker Oats Co.; the product description carries the Gatorade brand.
Class II voluntary recall: 120 bottles of Gatorade Vanilla Protein Shake, Michigan and Illinois only (F-0628-2019)
Pepsico Gatorade Plant (Indianapolis, Indiana; 5858 Decatur Blvd) initiated a voluntary Class II recall (FDA event_id 81146; recall number F-0628-2019) on 2018-10-01. openFDA reports one result for this event. Product description: Gatorade Vanilla Protein Shake, 330-mL, Primary Package HDPE in a 12pk case. Product quantity: Ten 12-pack cases (120 individual 330mL bottles). Distribution pattern: "Domestic only: MI, IL." Reason text: "Gatorade is voluntarily recalling a limited number of 12-pack 330-mL Gatorade Vanilla Protein Shake bottles because they may contain Bacillus cereus bacteria." Code info: one manufacture date DT040988, use by date JAN 04 19. Initial firm notification: Letter. Status Terminated; center classification date 2018-11-16; report date 2018-11-28; termination date 2019-02-07. The recorded scope is 120 bottles, distributed only in Michigan and Illinois.
Final judgment: The Gatorade Company $300,000 ($180,000 to the Attorney General, $120,000 in grants); permanent anti-water injunction; no admission
On September 21, 2017, the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, entered a Final Judgment and Permanent Injunction in The People of the State of California v. The Gatorade Company, Case No. BC676734. Judge Marc Marmaro signed the judgment. The defendant is The Gatorade Company, a Delaware corporation. The complaint's caption states the action is for injunctive and other relief under Business and Professions Code sections 17200 et seq. and 17500 et seq. The complaint states that The Gatorade Company is a subsidiary of PepsiCo, Inc., and alleges misleading statements and depictions of water in a mobile-app videogame entitled "Bolt!", including a tutorial that instructed users to "Keep Your Performance Level High By Avoiding Water." The Attorney General's September 21, 2017 announcement describes the same game, states that the app amassed more than 2.3 million downloads and 87 million games played worldwide in 2012 and 2013, that "Bolt!" was downloaded an estimated 30,000 times in California, and that it is no longer available for download. The judgment is entered on stipulation, without the taking of proof and without trial or adjudication of any fact or law, without constituting evidence of or an admission by the defendant regarding any issue of law or fact alleged in the complaint, and without the defendant admitting any liability. Paragraph 14 states that the judgment is not, and is not to be construed as, an admission of fact or liability by any party, or a finding of fact or liability against any party, and that it was entered without admissions or findings of fact or law of wrongdoing, misconduct, or illegal acts by the defendant. Paragraph 5, under Business and Professions Code sections 17203 and 17535, permanently enjoins the defendant, in connection with the advertising, marketing, promotion, offering for sale, or sale of Gatorade in California, from making the Bolt! App, in its present form or in any iteration, or any other app or electronic game, available for download that creates the misleading impression that water will hinder and/or adversely affect athletic performance, that consuming water in general is to be avoided in favor of consuming Gatorade, that athletes consume Gatorade and avoid all water consumption, or that water consumption in general should be avoided, and from making statements that disparage water or the consumption of water. Paragraph 9 requires the defendant to pay the California Attorney General a total of $300,000: $180,000 paid directly to the Attorney General and used to defray the costs of the investigation leading to the judgment and for enforcement of consumer protection laws, at the Attorney General's sole discretion; and $120,000 paid directly to the Attorney General and used to provide grants to California state or local agencies, California public or non-profit colleges or universities, or California non-profit organizations, for study, research, or education on the nutrition of children or teenagers, or on consumption of non-branded water. No more than 20 percent of the grant funds shall go to a single recipient, and funds not used for that purpose within five years of the effective date are used as described for the $180,000. Paragraph 10 requires payment within thirty calendar days of the effective date. This is not a Proposition 65 action.