Kashi Honey Almond Flax Granola Bars Amount of Honey Class Action

Many consumers these days are avoiding sugar, the complaint for this class action alleges, and prefer to buy products sweetened with honey. But the complaint alleges that certain foods that are promoted as being made with honey actually get more of their sweetening from refined sugars. It takes issue with a Kashi Sales, LLC product, Kashi Honey Almond Flax granola bars on this account.

Two classes have been defined for this action:

• The Florida Class is all persons in Florida who bought the product during the applicable statutes of limitations.
• The Consumer Fraud Multi-State Class is all persons in Michigan, Arkansas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Kentucky, North Dakota, and Utah who bought the product during the applicable statutes of limitations.

Page 1 of the complaint shows the box for the product, showing the words “Honey Almond Flax” and “Made with Wildflower Honey” on a background of lighter and darker shades of amber. Page 2 shows an individually-wrapped bar, again showing the words “Honey Almond Flax” along with an image of a pool of honey along with almonds and flax seeds.

The complaint alleges, “Doctors and nutritionists agree that excess sugar intake leads to [] weight gain, Type 2 diabetes, dental caries, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, cancer, and even dementia.”

Many consumers are therefore avoiding sugar and prefer to buy food products that are sweetened with honey. The complaint alleges that consumers have several reasons for this:

• They think honey is better for them than sugar.
• They believe that honey is a natural product that does not go through harsh refining processes.
• It has a lower glycemic index than sugar, meaning that it does not cause such drastic fluctuations in levels of blood sugar and insulin.
• Honey is sweeter than sugar, so less is required to sweeten a product.
• Honey contains small amounts of nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, enzymes, phytonutrients, and antioxidants, for better immunity and better digestion.

However, the complaint reproduces the ingredient panel for the product, with the sweeteners identified, in order, as “brown rice syrup,” “dried brown rice syrup,” and “cane sugar,” with “honey” coming in only as the ninth most predominant ingredient.

“Brown rice syrup and dried brown rice syrup are known among manufacturers as heavily processed and refined ‘sugar substitutes[,]” the complaint alleges. “Like standard refined sugar, brown rice syrups have a high glycemic index and lack and nutrients.”

According to the complaint, the labels for the product do not reveal that the product contains sweeteners other than honey. The complaint quotes the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as saying that products that contain a blend of honey and other sweeteners should “have a statement of identity that accurately describes the food, such as ‘blend of honey and sugar,’ ‘blend of honey and corn syrup,’ or another appropriately descriptive term.”

The complaint claims that the product name, labeling, and packaging mislead consumers to expect a greater absolute and relative amount of honey compared to non-honey sweeteners.”

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Contains Too Little of Featured Ingredients, Deceptive Advertising, Deceptive Labels, Hiding Sugar