Hunt’s, Swiss Miss, PAM Customers Want ConAgra Class Action Lawsuit Certified

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Purchasers of Hunt’s brand canned tomato products, PAM cooking spray products, and Swiss Miss hot cocoa products are seeking to certify their Classes in a class action lawsuit against ConAgra Inc., the food manufacturer they allege is guilty of falsely labeling the food products as 100% natural or as a good source of antioxidants. Friday, attorneys for the plaintiffs asked a California federal judge to certify the three Classes, one for purchasers of each brand of product.

In arguments presented June 6, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer was asked to certify the ConAgra class action lawsuit because, the plaintiffs claim, ConAgra labeled and marketed its products in a consistent way so that all consumers, regardless of individual circumstances, were subjected to the same marketing message. In the case of PAM cooking spray products and Hunt’s canned tomato products, say the plaintiffs, “The Sherman Law and Food and Drug Administration (‘FDA’) regulations are clear that food manufacturers are forbidden from representing to consumers that a product is ‘100% Natural’ if synthetic ingredients are used.”

The plaintiffs seeking certification in the Swiss Miss class action lawsuit also claim violation of the Sherman Law, writing, “the evidence presented in this motion shows, Swiss Miss hot cocoa products claim to be ‘Natural Source of Antioxidants’ or ‘Natural Antioxidants Are Found in Cocoa,'” but, they say, ConAgra is “not allowed to make these label claims. ConAgra’s antioxidant claims on its Swiss Miss cocoa products are unlawful and render the products misbranded because the label claim does not include the specific name of the nutrient that is an antioxidant; there is no established RDI for that unnamed antioxidant; the nutrient that is the subject of the antioxidant claim does not have recognized antioxidant activity…”

The ConAgra class action lawsuit asserts that misbranding deceived consumers into purchasing the products when they might not have done so if they had known that the products contained synthetic ingredients or petrochemicals or, in the case of Swiss Miss cocoa products, that antioxidant claims were, as the class action lawsuit claims, false.

The PAM cooking spray class action lawsuit describes the ingredients used in the product as “the ingredient identified as ‘propellant’ which includes Petroleum gas (liquefied), Propane, Propane 2-methyl (isobutane) and Butane. PAM Organic cooking spray contains ethyl alcohol, carbon dioxide, and lecithins.” Most Hunt’s tomato sauces identified in the class action lawsuit include both citric acid and calcium chloride, while some contain natural ingredients and citric acid. The plaintiff attorneys say that citric acid, calcium chloride, and the propellant ingredients in PAM cooking sprays violate the FDA labeling policies, writing, “[t]he agency has… stated that its policy regarding the use of the term ‘natural’ on food labeling means that ‘nothing artificial or synthetic (including all color additives regardless of source) has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in food.'”

This deceptive labeling class action lawsuit is just one of many to have been filed recently regarding the “natural,” “all natural,” or “100% natural” claims made on many manufacturers’ food labels, when in fact the foods contained ingredients that could be considered to be synthetic or, as in the case of the PAM propellants made of petroleum and other chemicals, not normally expected to be in food, following the FDA’s policy statement on the issue.

The plaintiffs are represented by Ben F. Pierce Gore of Pratt & Associates, by Brian Herrington of Don Barrett PA and by David Shelton of David Shelton PLLC.

The ConAgra Deceptive Labeling Class Action Lawsuit is Jones v. ConAgra Foods Inc., Case No. 12-cv-01633, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.