Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest Class Action Settlement News!
Frito-Lay Hit with Second Class Action Over “All-Natural” Claims
By Sarah Pierce
New York resident Chris Shake alleges in the proposed class action lawsuit that despite packaging claims that Tostitos and SunChips are “all-natural,” the chips actually contain corn and vegetable oils made from genetically engineered plans. Shake says the deceptive claims caused him to pay an additional 10 cents per ounce of chips to buy what he thought were “all-natural” Tostitos and SunChips instead of a product such as Doritos, which makes no such claim.
The Tostitos and SunChips class action lawsuit says the presence of the genetically modified ingredients was uncovered during independent testing conducted on samples of Frito-Lay products labeled “all-natural.”
Shake says had he known the chips contained genetically modified ingredients, who would not have paid a premium price for the “all-natural” chips, calling Frito-Lay’s labels “deceptive.”
“Genetically modified organisms are created artificially in a laboratory by swapping genetic material across species to exhibit traits not naturally theirs,” the Frito-Lay class action lawsuit says. “Since a reasonable consumer assumes that seeds created in such a way are not ‘all-natural,’ advertising Tostitos and SunChips as natural is deceptive and likely to mislead a reasonable consumer.”
A similar class action lawsuit over Frito-Lay’s deceptive advertising claims was filed in California federal court last December. Both lawsuits are seeking reimbursements for customers who thought they were purchasing an “all-natural” product.
The case is Chris Shake v. Frito-Lay North America, Inc. and PepsiCo, Inc., Case No. 12-cv-408, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York.
UPDATE: On Oct. 3, 2017, Frito-Lay has agreed to end five years of litigation over labeling on its products that indicate they are “made with all natural ingredients” by changing its labels.
Updated February 7th, 2012
All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions
Top Class Actions Legal Statement
3 thoughts onFrito-Lay Hit with Second Class Action Over “All-Natural” Claims
Add me
add me
I feel that these large companies are just taking advantage of the working class.