A proposed class-action lawsuit filed in federal court accuses Costco of selling a popular protein powder laced with arsenic, cadmium, and lead, while marketing it as "good clean fuel" for health-conscious consumers who paid roughly $30 a container.
The complaint, filed Tuesday in the Western District of Washington, targets Costco for its sale of Orgain Organic Plant-Based Protein Powder. Plaintiffs allege the retail giant knew, or should have known, the product contained dangerous heavy metals and failed to tell customers. Neither Costco nor Orgain immediately responded to requests for comment, the New York Post reported.
The case raises a straightforward question: If a company plasters health claims on a product and charges a premium for it, shouldn't the product at least be free of toxic metals?
The complaint centers on two Orgain product variants, Vanilla Bean and Chocolate Fudge protein powders, sold at Costco locations. Independent laboratory testing commissioned by one of the plaintiffs and by plaintiffs' counsel confirmed the presence of lead, cadmium, and arsenic in both flavors.
The lawsuit also leans on third-party investigations. The Clean Label Project and Consumer Reports both examined Orgain's Vanilla Bean powder and found it exceeded their "level of concern" for lead. Consumer Reports tested 23 protein powders and ready-to-drink shakes overall. More than two-thirds contained more lead than food safety experts consider safe for daily consumption. Some exceeded that threshold by more than ten times.
Those are not small numbers. And the people buying this product were not buying it on a whim. They were buying it because they trusted the label.
The gap between what Costco told customers and what the complaint alleges they actually sold is the heart of the case. Court filings describe Costco's marketing as calling the powder "good clean fuel" and touting "quality ingredients and higher standards." The retailer's promotional language also described Orgain as "relentless about quality."
Plaintiffs say consumers relied on those claims. They paid a premium, about $30 per container, because they believed they were purchasing a genuine health supplement. The lawsuit alleges those same consumers would have chosen cheaper alternatives had they known the product contained toxic metals.
The complaint accuses Costco of unfair trade practices and violations of numerous state laws, though the specific statutes have not been publicly identified. Plaintiffs seek punitive damages and a court order forcing Costco to disclose the presence of heavy metals in its products.
Seattle-based Hagens Berman, a firm with a track record in large consumer class actions, represents the plaintiffs. Managing partner Steve Berman framed the case as a breach of consumer trust.
"Many consumers who buy and use protein powder do so routinely as part of a continuing focus on their fitness and health."
Berman went further in a second statement:
"These same health-conscious consumers have unknowingly ingested alarming levels of toxic heavy metals, lead, cadmium and arsenic, again and again, trusting that Costco's quality assurance would not allow something like this to happen."
The allegation is blunt: Costco's quality controls either failed or were never applied to this product in the first place. Either way, the people who trusted the brand paid the price.
Perhaps the most striking detail is what hasn't happened. No recall has been issued for the Orgain protein powder. The product remains on shelves, not just at Costco, but at Amazon, Target, and Walmart, none of which are named as defendants in this suit.
Orgain itself has maintained that its products are safe for daily use, even after the Consumer Reports investigation. The company did not respond to the Post's request for comment on the lawsuit. The World Health Organization and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, both cited in the complaint, have stated there is no known safe level of exposure to heavy metals.
That gap, between Orgain's assurance of safety and the WHO's position that no level of exposure is safe, sits at the center of the dispute. Courts will eventually sort out the legal question. But the consumer question is already clear enough: people trusted a label, and the label may not have told them the whole story.
The lawsuit's outcome is uncertain. Class-action complaints are allegations, not verdicts, and Costco has not yet responded publicly. But the pattern of corporate accountability failures in consumer-facing products is familiar. A recent class-action case against United Airlines over deceptive seating practices underscored how courts are increasingly willing to let consumer fraud claims proceed when marketing diverges sharply from the product delivered.
This case also highlights a regulatory gap that has frustrated consumer advocates for years. Dietary supplements and protein powders occupy a gray zone in federal oversight. The FDA does not approve these products before they hit shelves the way it does pharmaceuticals. That means companies largely police themselves, and consumers are left to trust labels written by the same people selling the product.
Consumer Reports' broader findings make the point hard to ignore. When more than two-thirds of tested protein products exceed safe daily lead levels, the problem is not one bad batch from one brand. It is an industry-wide failure of transparency. As Sony's recent PlayStation class-action settlement showed, even when consumers win these cases, the payouts often amount to a few dollars per claimant while the company moves on largely unscathed.
That dynamic should concern anyone who believes in honest markets. When companies can charge premium prices on health claims, sell products that independent labs flag for toxic metals, and face no regulatory consequences until a private lawsuit forces the issue, the system is not working for the consumer.
The identities of the plaintiffs have not been disclosed, and it remains unclear whether any of them allege specific health harms from consuming the product. Those details will likely emerge as the case progresses through discovery. High-profile disclosure lawsuits often produce their most revealing information long after the initial filing.
For now, the product stays on shelves. No government agency has stepped in. And the company that marketed a powder full of heavy metals as "good clean fuel" hasn't said a word.
Costco built its reputation on trust, the idea that its Kirkland-adjacent shelves carry products worth the membership fee. When institutions entrusted with people's well-being fail to meet basic safety standards, accountability shouldn't have to come from a lawsuit. But until regulators start doing their jobs, that's exactly where it will come from.
Consumers who want "good clean fuel" shouldn't need a lawyer to find out what's actually in the container.
