The manufacturer of the popular LaCroix sparkling water beverage, that claims to be all-natural, is facing claims in the US it contains artificial ingredients - including a chemical used in insecticide.
The National Beverage Corporation has denied the allegations, saying there are no sugars or artificial ingredients in the drink.
"Natural flavours in LaCroix are derived from the natural essence oils from the named fruit used in each of the flavours. There are no sugars or artificial ingredients contained in, nor added to, those extracted flavours."
The National Beverage Corp who makes LaCroix has seen a 12.6 percent increase in sales over the last quarter, largely driven by the drink.
But according to CBS News, the law firm representing plaintiff Lenora Rice, has found through testing that it does indeed have a number of artificial ingredients - including limonene, used in cockroach insecticide.
The ingredient limonene can cause kidney tumours and toxicity, but it can also be found in plants.
The National Institute of Health's database lists limonene as a naturally occurring chemical, often extracted from citrus peels, and there is no evidence that it causes tumours in humans - but it can in rats.
"Limonene has been shown to cause a male rat-specific kidney toxicity referred to as hyaline droplet nephropathy. Furthermore, chronic exposure to limonene causes a significant incidence of renal tubular tumours exclusively in male rats."
The same goes for another ingredient allegedly found in LaCroix, linalool, found in mints and scented herbs.
The reason for the lawsuit is because the US Food and Drug Administration lists ingredients such as limonene on their poisonous plant database. It can be both naturally found and created synthetically.
Newshub.