A woman has sued Kellogg’s for $5m, arguing that the company has misled their customers because their Frosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts don’t contain enough strawberries.
Anita Harris filed the class action lawsuit in the US District Court Southern District of Illinois East St Louis Division in late August. The defendant, the Kellogg Sales Company, stands accused of advertising a product as containing strawberries when it in fact holds more pears and apples than strawberries.
The lawsuit includes images of Pop-Tarts’ packaging and marketing, which often prominently features images of strawberries and the red filling of the Pop-Tart.
“The representations are misleading because they give consumers the impression the fruit filling contains a greater relative and absolute amount of strawberries than it does,” the legal filing says, according to MarketWatch.
The nutrition label of the box of the product states that it contains two per cent or less of items like dried strawberries, dried pears, and dried apples. It also contains red 40 colouring, yellow corn flour, and caramel colour.
The Pop-Tarts website says that the product is “filled with strawberry-flavoured goodness”.
“The Product’s common or usual name of ‘Frosted Strawberry – Toaster Pastries,’ is false, misleading, and deceptive because its filling contains a relatively significant amount of non-strawberry fruit ingredients – pears and apples – shown on the ingredient list,” the suit adds.
The legal complaint states that the label and marketing don’t acknowledge the use of artificial flavours and added colouring.
Ms Harris claims in the lawsuit that she and other customers wouldn’t have bought the Pop-Tarts if they had been made aware that they contained so little strawberries.
In addition to the $5m in damages, Ms Harris is also asking that the company change their labels to show the other fruits and food colouring used.
“Reasonable consumers must and do rely on a company to honestly identify and describe the components, attributes, and features of the Product,” the suit states.
Several years ago, Starbucks faced similar criticism when it was revealed that their pumpkin spice latte didn’t have any pumpkin in it. The recipe has since been changed to include it.
Kellogg’s told The Independent that they don’t comment on pending litigations.
