Center Cut: Hormel Fails to Note That ’25 Percent Less Fat’ Is Due to Smaller Serving Size, Not Leaner Bacon, Class Action Says

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A proposed class action claims Hormel Foods has deceptively marketed its Black Label Center Cut Bacon as containing 25 percent less fat in comparison to the company’s regular variety.

The 32-page case contends that the Black Label Center Cut Bacon contains 25 percent less fat not because it is leaner than standard bacon but because the serving size for the product is 15 grams smaller in comparison to “significantly larger” serving sizes for Hormel Original bacon. The less fat claim on Center Cut bacon labels is misleading because, “ounce-for-ounce and gram-for-gram,” the product does not contain 25 less fat than any other Black Label bacon product, the suit says. 

According to the complaint, Hormel, who makes more than 19 varieties of bacon, has been able to sell Black Label Center Cut Bacon at prices higher than comparable products, including its own, due to the “misleading” label, which is alleged to lead consumers to believe the “leaner” bacon is a premium item.

“To justify its ‘contains 25% less fat’ claim, Center Cut advertises the amount of fat contained in a smaller, 15 gram, serving of Center Cut bacon, compared to the amount of fat contained in significantly larger serving sizes of Hormel Original bacon,” the suit says. “Much of the fat savings being advertised on the Center Cut bacon are due to a reduction in the serving size that Hormel uses for Center Cut bacon vis-à-vis Original bacon—not due to Center Cut bacon being 25% leaner than Original Bacon.”

Overall, the label of Hormel’s Center Cut bacon asks buyers to “consume less while paying a premium price for this privilege,” the lawsuit reads, claiming consumers have ultimately ended up with a product that is “not as lean as they were led to believe.”  

Moreover, Hormel makes it difficult for consumers to realize that the “25 percent less fat” claim is misleading because it fails to identify the product to which the Center Cut bacon is being compared, the lawsuit alleges. Though the label states the Center Cut product has 25 percent less fat than “Our Regular Bacon,” Hormel does not make any product called “Black Label Regular Bacon,” according to the suit. The case claims consumers have been confused by Hormel’s “25 percent less fat” claim into thinking that the product being compared to Center Cut bacon by way of the “less fat” labeling is not Hormel’s original bacon but “some other Black Label product” because the claim touts a fat reduction inconsistent with what’s stated in the products’ nutrition facts. 

“Collectively, these violations deceive consumers and make it impossible to ascertain to which product Center Cut is being compared by using the information provided on the Center Cut package,” the case argues. 

Per the lawsuit, the “confusing and misleading nature” of Hormel’s 25 percent less fat declaration on the labels of Center Cut bacon is illustrated by alleged recent “manipulations” of the serving size and fat content of the Original bacon. According to the lawsuit, Hormel, at some point in the first half of 2021, changed the serving size and fat content of its Original bacon. Prior to this, the serving size for Original bacon was 18 grams with a fat content of seven grams, the case states.

After Hormel modified its Original bacon label, the serving size was reduced to 15 grams yet the relative fat content per gram was increased, meaning each serving size still had seven grams of fat, the lawsuit says. However, the labeling for Hormel’s Center Cut “25% less fat” bacon was not changed, the complaint relays. 

“Prior to and after the Hormel Original Modification, it proclaimed itself to be 25% less fat than Hormel’s Regular Bacon, even though the Original had changed both its serving size and the ratio of fat to lean,” the lawsuit says. “Both before and after, consumers are confused and deceived by the 25% less fat label.” 

The lawsuit looks to represent California residents who bought Hormel Center Cut bacon at any time from August 6, 2017 to the present within the state. 

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