Class Action Alleges Dollar General’s Clover Valley Graham Crackers Are Mislabeled

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A proposed class action claims Dollar General’s Clover Valley-brand Honey Graham Crackers are misleadingly labeled in that they contain less whole grain and honey than consumers are led to expect.

According to the case, the representations on the graham crackers’ label—including the name “Honey Graham Crackers,” a honey dipper, an image displaying the purported coloring of the product, and the statements “Made With Real Honey,” “Contains 8g of whole grain per serving” and “No high fructose corn syrup”—falsely imply that the product is made with mostly graham flour, i.e., a type of whole wheat flour, and sweetened mainly with honey.

The lawsuit alleges the Clover Valley Honey Graham Crackers, in truth, contain more “enriched flour,” or refined white flour, than graham flour, and are sweetened “primarily with sugar” rather than an appreciable amount of honey. Per the suit, Dollar General has sold more of the graham cracker products, and at higher prices, than it would have absent the allegedly misleading labeling.

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

The lawsuit explains that consumers who view the “graham” representations on the Clover Valley product’s label would reasonably expect that the crackers contain more whole grain flour than a product labeled merely as “crackers.” According to the case, an increasing number of consumers prefer products made with whole grain, which contains all three parts of the grain, because they contain more fiber than those made with enriched flour, which contains only the endosperm.

The case claims the nutrition facts panel on the Clover Valley Honey Graham Crackers label shows that the product’s whole grain content amounts to only 25 percent of its enriched flour content and is thus “not a good source of fiber” given this amounts to roughly one gram of fiber per serving.

“The front label representation of 8g of whole grain per serving is misleading because this does not tell consumers that graham flour is not the predominant flour,” the complaint attests.

The lawsuit goes on to allege that consumers have been similarly misled as to the graham crackers’ honey content in that the crackers contain only a “miniscule [sic] amount of honey” and are sweetened mostly with sugar. Per the case, studies have shown that most consumers consider honey to be a healthier and more natural sweetener than sugar and are therefore willing to pay a premium price for products represented to be sweetened with honey.

Although consumers who view the Clover Valley Honey Graham Crackers package expect that the crackers are sweetened with mostly honey, the product’s ingredients list reveals that this is not the case, the lawsuit attests, stating that “honey” appears just above the “Contains 2% or Less of” ingredients while sugar comes out on top as the predominant sweetener ingredient.

The case claims that what consumers may recognize as a “honey” taste is derived mostly from “Natural Flavor” and not the “negligible amount of honey” in the crackers. According to the suit, Dollar General has failed to state on the product’s front label that the crackers are “natural honey flavored” despite being required to do so under state and federal food labeling laws.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in Illinois, Iowa or Arkansas who purchased the Clover Valley Honey Graham Crackers product within the statute of limitations period.

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