Class Action Claims Consumers Misled by Entenmann’s All Butter Loaf Cake Packaging [UPDATE]
Last Updated on November 9, 2021
Boswell v. Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc.
Filed: October 25, 2020 ◆§ 1:20-cv-08923
A class action claims packages of Entenmann's All Butter Loaf Cake are misleadingly labeled in that they fail to disclose butter is not the sole shortening ingredient.
New York
Case Updates
November 9, 2021 – Lawsuit Dismissed
The case detailed on this page was dismissed after a federal judge found that a reasonable consumer would not be misled by the “All Butter” statement on the labels of Entenmann’s loaf cakes.
U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman wrote in a November 4 order that unambiguous claims on food labels may be considered misleading when a reasonable consumer would be “lulled into a false sense of security” by the deceptive statement and rely upon it without checking the label for clarification.
When a food label claim can have multiple interpretations, on the other hand, reasonable consumers would be prompted to check the product’s label for clarifying information and thus would not be misled, the judge wrote.
Here, the “All Butter” claim is ambiguous and can be understood in ways other than the interpretation that the loaf cake contains no butter alternatives, Judge Furman found.
“Taken literally, the description could be understood to mean that the product is entirely butter — although no reasonable consumer would adopt that reading because the product is obviously not a stick of butter and ‘All Butter’ modifies ‘Loaf Cake,’” the order stated. “Put differently, any reasonable consumer would be aware that the product is, notwithstanding the label ‘All Butter,’ likely to contain other ingredients commonly found in cake, such as flour, sugar, milk, and eggs.”
The judge found that because the “All Butter” statement could have multiple interpretations—for instance, that it is made entirely of butter, that all the shortening ingredients are butter, that no butter alternatives were used, or that the loaf cake tastes only like butter—reasonable consumers would investigate further and, upon discovering from the ingredients list that the loaf cake contains non-butter ingredients, would not be misled.
The November 4 order noted that the plaintiff’s other claims also fail because they are predicated on proof of deceptive product labeling and for “a litany of other reasons as well.”
Judge Furman has dismissed the case without giving the plaintiff leave to amend her claims.
Packages of Entenmann’s All Butter Loaf Cake are misleadingly labeled in that buyers are led to believe butter is the sole shortening ingredient in the product, a proposed class action claims.
Left undisclosed on defendant Bimbo Bakeries USA’s packaging is that the loaf cake contains the shortening agent soybean oil and artificial flavor, omissions that give consumers the impression the product “contains more butter than it does by increasing the butter taste,” the 11-page lawsuit says.
“Defendant’s branding and packaging of the Product is designed to—and does—deceive, mislead, and defraud plaintiff and consumers,” according to the complaint.
When baking, consumers prefer real butter to chemically produced vegetable oils for taste and health reasons and to avoid processed, artificial butter substitutes, the case says. Per the suit, butter costs more than vegetable oil alternatives, such as soybean, palm or canola oil.
As the lawsuit tells it, a food labeled with the word “butter” will lead a reasonable consumer to expect the product’s shortening ingredient will be butter. In that light, the defendant’s Entenmann’s All Butter Loaf Cake is misleadingly labeled in that the product’s packaging does not properly disclose the presence soybean oil, a shortening ingredient, or artificial flavor, the lawsuit argues.
In disclosing the presence of soybean oil and artificial flavor in only the cake’s ingredients list, the defendant “took advantage of consumers’ cognitive shortcuts made at the point-of-sale” as well as their trust in Bimbo Bakeries, “a well-known and respected brand or entity in this sector,” the complaint says.
“Plaintiff and class members reasonably and justifiably relied on these negligent misrepresentations and omissions, which served to induce and did induce, the purchase of the Product,” the lawsuit claims. “Plaintiff and class members would not have purchased the Product or paid as much if the true facts had been known, suffering damages.”
According to the lawsuit, the Entenmann’s All Butter Loaf Cake is worth less than what consumers paid given the defendant’s “false and misleading statements and omissions.”
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