Vegetable Oils in Pepperidge Farm “Golden Butter” Crackers Illinois Class Action

This class action takes issue with a Pepperidge Farm, Inc. product called “Golden Butter [Crackers].” (The word “Crackers” doesn’t appear on the front but is implied by the pile of small crackers depicted directly below the name.) The complaint alleges that the name of the product implies that the shortening used to make the product is implied to be all, or nearly all, butter, yet the product contains a substantial amount of vegetable oil, an inferior ingredient.

The class for this action is all those who live in Illinois and who bought the product during the applicable statutes of limitations.

The complaint alleges that the name of the product tells consumers that “butter” is a defining feature of the cracker. It alleges, “The meaning of compound words is greater than the sum of [their] parts, such that ‘butter cracker’ does not mean ‘a cracker made with butter’ but a cracker which is all or predominantly made with butter.” It adds, “Wherever butter could be used in a foo labeled as ‘Butter _____,’ consumers will expect butter instead of its synthetic substitutes, vegetable oils.”

The complaint cites a number of reasons consumers prefer butter to vegetable oils:

• Butter does not contain the trans fats that vegetable oils do.
• Butter is not as highly processed, since it’s made by churning milk, while vegetable oils are made via chemical reactions.
• Butter contains nutrients like calcium and vitamins A and D.
• Butter is worth more than vegetable oils.

Does the product actually contain butter? Yes, the complaint says, but “it contains a non-de minimis amount of butter substitutes—vegetable oils—indicated on the ingredient list.” The complaint reproduces the ingredient panel, show that “Butter” does come first, but “Vegetable Oils” comes immediately after.

The complaint claims, “The Product contains more vegetable oils than expected given the absence of any qualification of ‘Golden Butter’ or disclosure of butter substitutes on the ingredient list.” Many crackers are sprayed with fats after they come out of the oven, it claims, and adds a speculation: “Assuming the Product uses vegetable oils as a topical spray, they are applied at around 8-18% of the cracker weight, which is consistent with the amount of vegetable oils in the Product, based on the Nutrition Facts.”

This spray-on coating, the complaint alleges, gives the crackers their golden color, but “[t]his is misleading, because consumers will expect that the cause of the golden hue of the Product is butter.”

The complaint claims that vegetable oils are “highly susceptible to oxidation” which can cause their flavor to revert back to “the original crude oil odor and aroma before they were refined, bleached and deodorized.” This can deliver a “beany,” “powdery,” or “fishy” flavor.

Thus, the complaint contends, the “Product’s added vegetable oils detract from their taste and push the butter taste to the background.”

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