Breyers Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Lacks Real Mint Ingredients, Class Action Says

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A proposed class action takes issue with the label of Breyers Mint Chocolate Chip Ice cream since it allegedly fails to disclose that the product’s characterizing flavor does not come entirely from real mint ingredients.

The 11-page suit says that although the label describes the Breyers product as “[c]ool mint ice cream with rich chocolately chips,” no qualifying terms, such as “flavored,” are included to indicate that the mint taste comes not from mint extract or mint oil but from “natural flavor.” 

The case contends that since neither mint extract nor mint oil is separately identified in the ice cream’s ingredient list, “any real mint, if present, is at trace or de minimis levels as part of the natural flavor ingredient.” 

“To the extent the Product may taste like mint, this is from ‘Natural Flavor,’ a synthesized blend of compounds, enhancers, solvents and additives, combined in a laboratory, with little if any connection to mint ingredients,” the suit claims. 

Because “flavored” is left off of the ice cream’s front label, consumers are not told that the product’s taste does not come from mint ingredients, the filing argues, contending that the value of the Breyers Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream is materially less than represented by defendant Unilever United States. 

“Had Plaintiff and proposed class members known the truth, they would not have bought the Product or would have paid less for it,” the suit says. 

The plaintiff and other buyers read and relied on the word “mint” and pictures of mint leaves on the product label in believing that the ice cream’s taste was from mint ingredients, the filing states. 

The suit looks to cover consumers in Illinois, North Dakota, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Utah, Nebraska, Kansas, and Wyoming who bought Breyers Mint Chocolate chip ice cream during the applicable statute of limitations period. 

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s free weekly newsletter here.