Kellogg Whole Wheat in “Harvest Wheat” Toasteds Crackers Class Action

Kellogg Sales Company makes a kind of cracker under its Kellogg’s Toasteds Crackers called Harvest Wheat. The complaint alleges that that the labeling and appearance of the crackers misleads consumers about the proportion of whole grains and the amount of fiber in the product.

Two classes have been defined for this action:

• The Illinois Class is all persons in Illinois who bought the product during the applicable statutes of limitations.
• The Consumer Fraud Multi-State Class is all persons in Kansas, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Virginia, South Carolina, Montana, Iowa, Mississippi, and Utah who bought the product during the applicable statutes of limitations.

According to the complaint, the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americas say that at least half of the grains people eat should be whole grains, and that this should include 48g of whole grains and 28g of fiber every day.

Whole grains are healthier, the complaint alleges, because they contain the endosperm, bran, and germ of the wheat grain, with the bran and germ containing “important nutrients like fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, such as iron, zinc, folate, magnesium, thiamin, niacin, selenium, riboflavin, manganese, copper, vitamin A, and vitamin B6.”

Refined grains have removed the bran and germ, which takes out the fiber and most of the nutrients, the complaint says, although some of them have been refined to add back in some of what’s been taken out.

Consumers, the complaint alleges, are therefore looking to eat more whole grains and fiber. However, they are confused by many representations, the complaint alleges, interpreting such terms as “harvest wheat” as representing whole grain content, because that grain would presumably “closer in form to its original ‘harvest’ state than after it is fully refined.”

The front page of the complaint shows an image of the box of crackers, with the words “Harvest Wheat” and an image of the crackers, which are a somewhat darker brown color with even darker specks in them. But the complaint alleges that these representations are misleading. It reproduces the ingredient panel on the box, showing that the main ingredient is “Enriched flour,” followed by “soybean oil,” and only then by “whole wheat flour,” and, as the sixth ingredient “whole wheat.”

The complaint alleges that the product contains more soybean oil than the sum total of whole grains “based on an analysis of the values indicated on the Nutrition Facts coupled with the ingredient density based on standardized measurements. Therefore, the complaint alleges, the product contains more refined flour than whole wheat flour.

Also, the complaint claims that the product has added ingredients to make it look more like it is made predominantly from whole grains. According to the complaint, these include malt to darken the color of the crackers and wheat germ to add darker specks “and what appear to be visible pieces of grain.”

The complaint alleges that all of this misleads consumers about the amount of whole grains in the product and therefore the value of the product.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Consumer
Tags: Deceptive Advertising, Deceptive Labels, Made with More White Flour than Whole Wheat Flour