Kellogg’s won the dismissals of a class-action lawsuit by customer Stacy Chiappetta who claimed that their Strawberry Pop-Tarts do not contain enough strawberries.
U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen in Chicago noted that no consumer of the product could believe from Kellogg’s packaging that the breakfast staple contains only strawberries or more strawberries than other ingredients.
“The word ‘Strawberry,’ combined with a picture of half of a strawberry and a Pop-Tart oozing red filling, does not guarantee that there will be a certain amount of strawberries in the product’s filling,” Aspen wrote in his decision on Tuesday.
Chiappetta claimed that Kellogg’s deceived shoppers with misleading packaging for their Unfrosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts, which contain red food dye that she said makes the filling “brighter and more appealing” on grocery store shelves. She accused the American multinational food manufacturing company of violating federal and state consumer protection laws.
“I expect that many of these types of cases may be dismissed,” Chiapetta’s lawyer, Spencer Sheehan, said in an email on Wednesday. “That does not mean the labeling is not misleading.”
Sheehan has filed at least three similar lawsuits against Kellogg’s in Illinois and New York over their Frosted Strawberry, Whole Grain Frosted Strawberry and Frosted Chocolate Fudge Pop-Tarts. He claimed different courts could reach adverse conclusions based on “almost identical” facts.
Kellogg’s and their lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
