Corporate Accountability Project · Food Safety & Consumer Harm · 2026
Recall Alert
Class Action | SDNY · Case 1:26-cv-00860
Poisoned “Super Greens”: Live It Up Sold Salmonella-Contaminated Supplements to Thousands While Promising “None of the Bad Stuff”
A New York dietary supplement brand marketed its green powder as the gold standard of purity and health. Federal records show it contained a dangerous bacterial pathogen that hospitalized at least 12 people across the United States.
🔴 Critical Severity
TL;DR
Live It Up (Superfoods, Inc.) sold green powder supplements marketed with phrases like “the highest quality ingredients” and “none of the bad stuff” while those products were contaminated with Salmonella, a bacterial pathogen that can cause severe illness, hospitalization, and death. The company knew or should have known about the contamination risk and failed to protect consumers. By January 2026, 45 people had fallen ill and 12 had been hospitalized, including lead plaintiff Charlyn Adkins, who was rushed to the emergency room by ambulance in December 2025. Thousands of consumers who trusted a company’s promises of purity paid for products that put their health at serious risk.
Trust in wellness brands is earned through rigorous safety, not marketing slogans. Demand accountability, demand refunds, and demand that this company and others like it face consequences that match the harm they cause.
Key Numbers
45
Confirmed illnesses linked to contaminated products
12
Hospitalizations from Salmonella poisoning
$5M+
Minimum damages sought for the class
1,000s
Estimated consumers in the proposed class
4
Recalled product SKUs (multiple UPCs)
1.35M
Annual U.S. Salmonella illnesses (CDC estimate)
Breakdown of Misconduct
Core Allegations
What the company did · 6 points
▾
| 01 | Live It Up Super Greens (both Original and Wild Berry flavors) were contaminated with Salmonella, a dangerous bacterial pathogen capable of causing severe illness, hospitalization, and death. | high |
| 02 | Defendant marketed and advertised the products as containing “the highest quality ingredients,” “all the good stuff,” and “none of the bad stuff” while those products harbored a pathogen that caused documented hospitalization. | high |
| 03 | Defendant claimed to use “good manufacturing practices,” a representation the complaint alleges is false given the Salmonella contamination that resulted from inadequate sourcing, testing, or inspection procedures. | high |
| 04 | Defendant knew or should have known about Salmonella contamination from its own testing and expertise and from third-party testing, yet failed to timely disclose or remove the recalled products from the market. | high |
| 05 | The products were sold nationally, including in Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands, through the company’s direct-to-consumer website since September 2024 and on Amazon.com since July 30, 2025, with expiration dates running as late as January 2028. | high |
| 06 | Consumers purchased the products through a monthly subscription model, meaning repeated exposure and repeated payment for products that were unfit for human consumption at the time of each delivery. | medium |
Public Health and Safety
Unsafe products and documented harm · 6 points
▾
| 01 | Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections, particularly in young children, elderly persons, and those with weakened immune systems. The FDA has documented this risk explicitly. | high |
| 02 | Healthy persons infected with Salmonella experience fever, bloody diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and severe abdominal pain. In rare but documented cases, the bacteria enter the bloodstream and cause arterial infections, endocarditis, and arthritis. | high |
| 03 | The CDC estimates Salmonella causes approximately 1.35 million illnesses, 26,500 hospitalizations, and 420 deaths in the United States each year. It is the leading cause of hospitalizations and deaths from food poisoning in the country. | high |
| 04 | As of the filing date, 45 illnesses and 12 hospitalizations across the United States were possibly linked to Live It Up’s recalled products. Lead plaintiff Charlyn Adkins was transported by ambulance to an emergency room in December 2025 with severe stomach cramps consistent with Salmonella poisoning. | high |
| 05 | Plaintiff Adkins incurred thousands of dollars in medical bills as a direct result of consuming the recalled product. Other class members similarly suffered severe pain and discomfort alongside significant medical expenses. | high |
| 06 | Dietary supplement manufacturers are required under industry standards to implement quality and preventive control practices to stop Salmonella contamination before products reach consumers. The defendant’s products indicate these measures were absent or failed. | medium |
Profit Over People
Revenue prioritized over consumer safety · 5 points
▾
| 01 | Defendant used emotionally resonant wellness marketing, including the promise of “better digestion,” “less bloating,” “healthy aging,” “immune support,” and “enhanced energy,” to command premium prices for products it failed to make safe. | high |
| 02 | The complaint alleges that defendant failed to timely recall products even after becoming aware of Salmonella contamination, allowing continued sales of unsafe products and continued collection of subscription revenue. | high |
| 03 | The lawsuit argues defendant was unjustly enriched because it retained payment from consumers for products that were worthless and unsafe, products no reasonable consumer would have purchased if the contamination had been disclosed. | high |
| 04 | The monthly subscription model kept consumers locked into repeated purchases and repeated exposure, generating recurring revenue even as the company allegedly knew its products carried contamination risk. | medium |
| 05 | Plaintiffs seek punitive damages, citing the allegation that the defendant’s concealment of the contamination and its failure to act was willful, wanton, and undertaken with reckless disregard for consumer safety. | medium |
Corporate Accountability Failures
Concealment, delay, and inadequate testing · 5 points
▾
| 01 | Defendant had exclusive access to its own test results and manufacturing data showing dangerous levels of Salmonella contamination, yet did not disclose that information to consumers before they purchased and consumed the products. | high |
| 02 | Nowhere on the recalled product packaging did the company disclose any risk of Salmonella contamination. Instead, it displayed health claims and a list of nutritious-sounding ingredients while suppressing the truth about safety. | high |
| 03 | The complaint alleges fraudulent concealment: the defendant intentionally omitted contamination information to induce purchases it would not otherwise have made, constituting fraud by omission under the law. | high |
| 04 | The FDA recall was announced on January 15, 2026, and FDA published the recall notice around January 20, 2026. The gap between when the defendant knew of contamination and when the recall occurred is a key contested issue in the litigation. | medium |
| 05 | The defendant’s violations of New York General Business Law sections 349 and 350 (deceptive acts and false advertising) reflect conduct that regulators and courts treat as an injury to the public, not merely a private dispute between buyer and seller. | medium |
Regulatory Failures
How oversight broke down · 4 points
▾
| 01 | Dietary supplements are subject to FDA oversight and manufacturers are required to follow Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs). The contamination of Live It Up Super Greens suggests these practices either were not followed or were not enforced in time to prevent harm. | high |
| 02 | Products with expiration dates extending to January 2028 were part of the recall, meaning contaminated products could have remained in consumers’ homes for years without being identified as recalled. | medium |
| 03 | The complaint notes potential unauthorized third-party distribution through eBay, Walmart.com, and other platforms, suggesting the company’s supply chain lacked the oversight controls necessary to contain or trace contaminated product movement. | medium |
| 04 | The FDA’s response, publishing recall notices approximately five days after the company’s announcement, illustrates the reactive nature of supplement industry regulation: contaminated products reach consumers first, and the safety net arrives after the harm is done. | medium |
Timeline of Events
Sept 2024
Live It Up begins selling Super Greens directly to consumers through its website. Products include lots later subject to the January 2026 recall.
July 2025
Live It Up Super Greens products become available for purchase on Amazon.com, dramatically expanding the distribution footprint for what would later be identified as recalled products.
July 2025
Plaintiff Charlyn Adkins begins purchasing Live It Up Super Greens from the company, later enrolling in a monthly subscription program that ensures continued delivery of the contaminated product.
Dec 18, 2025
Plaintiff Charlyn Adkins is rushed by ambulance to the emergency room at Lake Regional Hospital with severe stomach cramps consistent with Salmonella poisoning. She incurs thousands of dollars in medical bills.
Jan 15, 2026
Superfoods, Inc. announces a recall of all Live It Up Super Greens products with lot numbers beginning with “A” and all stick pack products, covering four product SKUs, due to possible Salmonella contamination.
Jan 20, 2026
The FDA publishes recall information publicly. At this point, 45 illnesses and 12 hospitalizations are possibly linked to the recalled products across the United States.
Feb 2, 2026
Class action complaint (Case 1:26-cv-00860) is filed in the Southern District of New York on behalf of Charlyn Adkins and all similarly situated consumers nationwide. The complaint seeks over $5 million in damages and punitive relief.
Direct Quotes from the Legal Record
QUOTE 1
The marketing promise at the heart of the fraud
Core Allegations
“all the good stuff,” “none of the bad stuff,” and that Defendant utilized ‘good manufacturing practices'”
💡 These are the exact phrases Live It Up used to sell its products. The complaint argues they are false and deceptive because the products contained Salmonella, which is definitionally “the bad stuff.”
QUOTE 2
Documented illnesses and hospitalizations
Public Health and Safety
“there have been 45 illnesses and 12 hospitalizations across the United States due to Salmonella contamination that are possibly linked to the Recalled Products”
💡 This is not a hypothetical harm. These are real people who became sick consuming a product they were told was the highest quality available.
QUOTE 3
The plaintiff’s personal medical emergency
Public Health and Safety
“Plaintiff Adkins was rushed by ambulance to the emergency room at Lake Regional Hospital with severe stomach cramps consistent with Salmonella poisoning. Plaintiff Adkins incurred thousands of dollars in medical bills as a result of her illness caused by the Recalled Products.”
💡 The human cost of this misconduct is an ambulance ride, an ER visit, and thousands of dollars in medical debt, all because a company could not deliver what it promised.
QUOTE 4
Salmonella’s documented danger, per the FDA
Public Health and Safety
“Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.”
💡 The FDA warning cited in the complaint makes clear this is not a mild food safety issue. Live It Up’s target wellness consumer base includes exactly the populations most at risk.
QUOTE 5
Defendant’s exclusive knowledge of the contamination risk
Corporate Accountability Failures
“Defendant had exclusive knowledge of its own test results showing dangerous levels of Salmonella contamination in its Products”
💡 The company held information consumers had no access to and no way to discover on their own, yet chose not to share it. That is not an oversight. It is a decision.
QUOTE 6
The intentional nature of the concealment
Corporate Accountability Failures
“Defendant intentionally omitted and failed to disclose this information to induce the Plaintiff and members of the Class to purchase its Recalled Products.”
💡 The word “intentionally” is central: the complaint does not allege carelessness alone. It alleges the company knowingly withheld safety information to drive sales.
QUOTE 7
Failure to timely recall: the basis for punitive damages
Profit Over People
“Defendant failed to timely remove and recall the Recalled Products once it became aware of the Salmonella contamination, necessitating punitive damages.”
💡 When a company learns its product is dangerous and delays action, it is not a compliance failure. It is a choice to keep selling, and a choice that put every subsequent consumer at risk.
QUOTE 8
Consumers deceived into purchases they would not have made
Profit Over People
“Plaintiff and Class members would not have purchased the Recalled Products had they known the products contained, or might have contained, dangerous or toxic levels of Salmonella”
💡 This is the core of the consumer protection claim: people were robbed of the ability to make an informed choice. They paid for wellness and received a health hazard.
Commentary
❓
What exactly did Live It Up do wrong?
▾
Live It Up manufactured and sold dietary supplements contaminated with Salmonella, a bacterium that causes serious illness and can be fatal in vulnerable populations. The company marketed these products using phrases like “highest quality ingredients” and “none of the bad stuff” while allegedly knowing, or being required by law to know, that its products posed a health risk. It failed to implement adequate quality controls, failed to disclose the contamination risk to consumers, and allegedly delayed recall action even after learning of the contamination. That combination of false promises and concealed danger is the core of what this lawsuit holds the company accountable for.
❓
Is this lawsuit serious, or just a shakedown?
▾
This lawsuit is serious. The recall is real, documented by the FDA. The 45 illnesses and 12 hospitalizations are real. The plaintiff’s emergency room visit is real. The core legal theories, including negligence, breach of express and implied warranties, fraudulent concealment, and violations of New York consumer protection law, are well-established frameworks courts use to hold corporations accountable when their products injure people. The fact that a company markets its products as safe while those products make people sick is exactly the kind of misconduct these laws were designed to address.
❓
Who was harmed and who is covered by the class action?
▾
The proposed class includes all persons residing in the United States who purchased one or more of the recalled Live It Up Super Greens products subject to the January 15, 2026 recall. This includes people who bought from the company’s website, from Amazon, and potentially from other online platforms. The harm includes both physical injury (illness, hospitalization, medical bills) and economic injury (paying for products that were unsafe and worth less than the purchase price). The class is described as numbering in the thousands.
❓
Why does it matter that the company claimed to use “good manufacturing practices”?
▾
Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) are regulatory requirements, not marketing slogans. When a supplement company claims to follow GMPs, it is representing to consumers that specific quality control protocols are in place, including testing, inspections, and contamination prevention. Using this language as a selling point while allegedly failing to meet those standards is not just misleading marketing. It exploits the regulatory vocabulary that consumers and regulators rely on to distinguish safe products from dangerous ones. It weaponizes the language of accountability to enable the very misconduct accountability is meant to prevent.
❓
Why are dietary supplements so vulnerable to this kind of contamination?
▾
Unlike pharmaceutical drugs, dietary supplements are not subject to pre-market approval by the FDA. Companies can bring products to market without proving safety or efficacy in advance. Oversight is largely reactive: the FDA investigates after problems surface, not before. This structural gap creates an environment where brands can build premium wellness identities on marketing claims without the rigorous independent testing that drugs require. When contamination happens in this environment, as it did here, consumers pay the price in illness, hospitalization, and financial loss while regulators scramble to catch up after the fact.
❓
What is unjust enrichment, and why does it apply here?
▾
Unjust enrichment is a legal doctrine that says a company should not keep money it earned through wrongdoing. In this case, consumers paid for a product they believed was healthy and safe. The company collected that money while allegedly knowing the product was contaminated. Keeping revenue from sales of a product no consumer would have purchased with full information is precisely what unjust enrichment prohibits. The lawsuit demands that this money be returned, either through restitution or disgorgement, so the company does not profit from its own concealment of harm.
❓
What can I do to prevent this from happening again?
▾
If you purchased any of the recalled Live It Up Super Greens products, stop using them immediately and contact the company for a refund. Check the FDA recall database at fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts before purchasing supplements, especially from direct-to-consumer wellness brands. Report adverse health events to the FDA’s MedWatch program. Support legislative efforts to require pre-market safety testing for dietary supplements. Contact your congressional representatives and urge them to close the regulatory gap that allows supplement brands to market products without independent safety verification. And share this story so that other consumers know what a company’s “highest quality ingredients” claim actually does and does not guarantee.
❓
What does this case reveal about the wellness industry?
▾
The wellness industry is built on aspiration and trust. Brands like Live It Up succeed precisely because consumers believe in the promise of clean, health-forward products. This case exposes what happens when that trust is treated as a resource to extract rather than an obligation to honor. When a company markets its products as immune support and healthy aging while selling something that sends people to the emergency room, it is not a product failure. It is a business model failure. The premium wellness market generates billions in revenue, much of it from consumers who cannot independently verify the safety claims they are purchasing. Accountability, through litigation, regulation, and public scrutiny, is the only check on that power.
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