Certain Boxes of Welch’s Fruit Snacks Are Unlawfully Under-Filled, Class Action Claims

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A re-filed proposed class action alleges that Welch Foods, Inc. and PIM Brands, Inc. have substantially under-filled boxes of certain Welch’s Fruit Snacks.

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According to the 24-page lawsuit, boxes of Welch’s Fruit Snacks with Reduced Sugar and Welch’s Fruit ‘n Yogurt fruit snacks sold to grocery stores and other mass-market retailers contain eight pouches compared to some other Welch’s Fruit Snacks products, which are sold in the same size boxes and include 10 larger pouches. The boxes of the Welch’s products at issue sometimes include four fewer pouches and up to 44 percent less of the snack by volume, the suit claims.

The empty space deliberately left in food packages is called “slack-fill,” the complaint explains, and the “unlawful and unfair” practice of using oversized boxes with considerable amounts of this nonfunctional space is prohibited by both federal and state laws. Per the case, the defendants have also “slack-filled” the fruit snacks at issue by making some pouches smaller, and packaging the same snack content in 15-percent larger boxes.

Welch’s Reduced Sugar Fruit Snacks, Fruit ‘n Yogurt Snacks, and certain boxes of Welch’s Fruit Snacks are sold in boxes that contain eight pouches with a net weight of 0.7 oz to 0.8 oz each—5.6 oz to 6.4 oz total in a box, the filing says. However, the suit relays that other Welch’s products sold in boxes of the same size include 10 pouches with a net weight of 0.9 oz each—9 oz. total in the box. The case alleges that the eight-pouch boxes are under-filled “at least 20% by quantity and up to 44% by weight.”

Further, Welch’s Fruit Snacks are sold at Costco in boxes containing 90 0.8-oz packages (originally eighty 0.9-oz pouches), the lawsuit says. However, it is estimated that up to 13 more packages could fit in the box—roughly 15 percent more of the product, the complaint calculates.

The alleged slack-fill is neither necessary for the packaging process nor due to the products’ settling or shifting, the suit contends. What’s more, the case charges that “PIM admittedly reduced content of the snack product as a ‘pricing issue’ to maximize its profits.”

The proposed class action detailed on this page is a re-filing of a prior lawsuit lodged in June 2020, the complaint explains. After the allegations were taken to federal court in September of that year, the claim that the defendants violated California’s Unfair Competition Law was dismissed for lacking federal jurisdiction, and “not on the merits,” the filing says. The plaintiffs, California residents, have re-filed the lawsuit in state court.

The lawsuit looks to represent:

“All persons who made retail purchases in the State of California of Welch’s Fruit Snacks, Welch’s Reduced Sugar Fruit Snacks, Welch’s Fruit ‘n Yogurt Snacks, sold in an 8, 10, 18, or 22 count box except for Welch’s Fruit Snacks sold in a box measuring 5.75” x 1.75” x 7.5” and containing ten .9 oz pouches of Fruit Snacks or a box containing twenty-two .9 oz pouches of Fruit Snacks. The class period will be from June 30, 2016, through the date a class is certified;” and

“All persons who made retail purchases from Costco in the State of California of Welch’s Fruit Snacks in a box containing either eighty or ninety pouches of Fruit Snacks. The class period will be from June 30, 2016, through the date a class is certified.”

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