Bethenny Frankel's successful cocktail brand took a public relations hit when a major grocery store pulled the products from its shelves. INSIDE EDITION reports.
TV personality Bethenny Frankel is under fire. Turns out her "all natural" cocktail isn't so natural.
That's the claim being made as the health food chain, Whole Foods, has stopped selling Frankel's popular drink, Skinnygirl Margaritas.
The New York Post headline blares, "Reality wife crock-tail scandal."
Frankel's website advertises the Skinnygirl Margarita as, "The margarita you can trust" with "No preservatives."
But it actually contains the preservative sodium benzoate. Studies have found that when mixed with other substances, such as vitamin C, sodium benzoate can potentially cause cancer.
Whole Foods said in a statement, "After discovering that Skinnygirl Margarita contains a preservative that does not meet our quality standards, we have had to stop selling it."
Even as Whole Foods drops Skinnygirl Margaritas from its stores across the USA, you can still find the popular cocktail at other stores everywhere. Frankel is trying to downplay the health concerns.
"Whole Foods represent an infinitesimal fraction of our business," she said in a statement, "We are, in fact, the fastest growing spirits brand in the US. We were bound to piss someone off, and everyone loves to try to tear down a success."
Frankel became a star on The Real Housewives of New York. She has branched out into books, her own TV spin-off, and sold the Skinnygirl brand for $120 million and is still involved in the company.
It is unclear how much of the preservative is in Skinnygirl Margaitas. A statement made from the company behind the Skinnygirl line says the drink has "extremely low levels" of the preservative.
