Class Action Claims Small Planet Foods' LÄRABAR Fruit & Nut Bars Deceptively Labeled

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Small Planet Foods, Inc. has been hit with a proposed class action that alleges the marketing and advertising of the company’s LÄRABAR brand “Original Fruit & Nut Bar” products are deceptive to consumers. According to the suit, the products’ labeling falsely conveys to consumers that the bars are “made from start to finish” with whole, unprocessed food ingredients.

The case first takes issue with the defendant’s use of “collective names” to describe the products’ ingredients. The suit argues that by simply listing, for example, “dates, almonds, unsweetened apples, walnuts, raisins, cinnamon” on the labels’ ingredients list, the company deprives consumers of the ability to “distinguish the value, quality and nature of the actual ingredients used.” The complaint points out that each ingredient can take various forms – e.g. tomato paste, tomato puree, tomato juice, diced tomatoes, etc. – that vary in nutritional value, an aspect that could affect consumers’ purchasing decisions.

“The use of generic, collective names for ingredients is relevant and material,” the complaint reads, “as consumers associate products made from whole, unprocessed (prior to being incorporated into a product) ingredients as being more natural, better quality, containing more vitamins and other nutrients, healthier, etc.”

The case claims the first ingredient listed for most of the products, “dates,” is not in a “recognizable form” and is therefore misleading to consumers.

The lawsuit further argues that the defendant's LÄRABAR labels fail to disclose the use of citric or ascorbic acid as a preservative in the products – an ingredient the case claims consumers would “find less favorable than those promoted in [the defendant’s] marketing.”

According to the lawsuit, the defendant’s advertising is geared toward consumers who are willing to pay a premium price for products “with a shorter ingredient list.” LÄRABARs, however, “did not conform to their affirmations of fact and promises,” the case argues, leading consumers to pay more than they otherwise would have absent the defendant’s deceptive marketing.