General Mills Must Face Nature Valley Class Action Lawsuit

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A California federal judge has refused to let General Mills Inc. escape a class action lawsuit accusing the company of falsely labeling its Nature Valley granola bars as “natural,” ruling that referring the lawsuit to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would be futile.

U.S. District Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton denied General Mills’ motion to dismiss the Nature Valley class action lawsuit based on its argument that the issue of whether or not its “natural” label claims are deceptive should be addressed by the FDA and not in the courts.

Judge Hamilton said the agency has repeatedly failed to take a stance on the “natural” issue in other class action lawsuits, so referring the Nature Valley case to them “would likely prove futile.”

“In repeatedly declining to promulgate regulations governing the use of ‘natural’ as it applies to food products, the FDA has signaled a relative lack of interest in devoting its limited resources to what it evidently considers a minor issue, or in establishing some ‘uniformity in administration’ with regard to the use of ‘natural’ in food labels,” Hamilton said in her May 10 order.

The class action lawsuit was filed last summer by two California mothers who allege the granola bar products are falsely marketed as “100% Natural” when they actually contain highly processed ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, high maltose corn syrup and maltodextrin.

The Nature Valley Granola Bar Class Action Lawsuit case is Judith Janney, et al. v. General Mills, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.

The plaintiffs are represented by Stephen Gardner, Amanda Marie Howell and Seema Rattan from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, George R. Baker of Baker Law PC and Steven M. Sherman of Sherman Business Law.

UPDATE: On Nov. 7, 2014, General Mills reportedly agreed to settle four Nature Valley class action lawsuits and will no longer include the allegedly misleading “natural” labels on its products.