Kombucha Maker: Labels, Not Lindsay, Led to Halt

By PopEater Staff Posted Jun 29th 2010 10:58AM

Labeling, and not Lindsay Lohan, is to blame for the pulling of the star's favorite tea drink, GT Dave's Kombucha, from store shelves, and the man behind the drink is tweaking the media for trying to cast the actress as some kind of villain.

Shortly after Lohan's SCRAM bracelet went off at the MTV Movie Awards, GT Dave, the nations largest kombucha bottler, pulled the drink from Whole Foods after concerns arose about the labeling relating to the scant trace (0.5%) of alcohol found in the beverage. Naturally, several media outlets began speculating that Lohan's SCRAM incident and her devotion to the drink were related.

"Our product's involvement with Lindsay Lohan and her SCRAM bracelet going off is all speculation," GT Dave told PopEater. "Lindsay actually never blamed our product for anything."

Indeed, Lohan has since taken to Twitter to clear up the silliness, telling her followers, "I wouldn't of been allowed to drink [kombucha]" if the drink's alcohol content had the potential to get her drunk.

By comparison, non-alcoholic beers like O'Douls and Sharp's nearly all contain 0.5% alcohol, the same as GT Dave's Kombucha.

GT Dave told us, "We decided to temporarily suspend distribution of our products as a precautionary step to identify the [labeling] problem and have it resolved. Halting sales is obviously a costly experience, but we felt it was the responsible thing to do until we learn more."

Kombucha is described on the website of Synergy Drinks, which also makes the drink, as a "living culture of beneficial microorganisms" that is cultured for 30 days and becomes an "elixir that immediately works with the body to restore balance and vitality."

Naturally, fans of the drink are having a tough time now that it is off the market.

"Our product is not just a drink for them," GT Dave said of its customers. "It is part of their lifestyle. People have reached out to us crying because they need it for personal health reasons and our frustrated that they can no longer get it. That has been the most heartbreaking part for me throughout all of this."

Tags: kombucha, lindsay lohan

Comments

(2)

Tuesday 29 June

By themeeker

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Nice try, but I'm not buying it. If you have to say it, it's probably not true. Linzey Loman is kryptonite to movies, endorsements, life, everything. Distance yourself from her and you may survive.

Monday 05 July

By Mandy

It's true. The labels used to read "May contain trace amount of alcohol not to exceed 0.2%" but was recently bumped up to 0.5% and apparently became a problem for Whole Foods.

Hope they get this sorted soon, I can't live without my kombucha!!!

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