Class Action Lawsuit Challenges ‘With Fiber’ Claim on Welch’s Fruit Snacks Labels [UPDATE]
Last Updated on February 8, 2022
Jones v. Welch Foods Inc. et al.
Filed: March 18, 2019 ◆§ 1:19-cv-01532
According to a class action, Welch's fruit snacks are deceptively labeled in that their fiber ingredient comes not from fruit, but from chicory root.
Case Updates
February 8, 2022 – Lawsuit Dismissed
The lawsuit detailed on this page was dismissed in November 2020 after a federal judge found that the Welch’s fruit snacks packaging was not false or misleading.
While Welch Foods Inc. was voluntarily dismissed from the lawsuit in August 2019, the remaining defendant, Promotion in Motion, filed a motion to dismiss the suit in November 2019.
On November 30, 2020, U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall ruled on that motion, finding that the plaintiff lacked standing to seek injunctive relief because he failed to show that he risked future harm. Since the plaintiff stated he would only purchase the fruit snacks again if he were assured that the packaging representations were no longer misleading, he was not likely to buy them in the future, the order stated.
Judge DeArcy Hall further found that the plaintiff’s argument that the fruit snacks’ labels contain an unlawful nutrient content claim relating to their fiber content was “attenuated at best.” Pointing to FDA regulations, the judge noted that foods are only subject to certain fiber content requirements when the label uses the terms “good source,” “contains” or “provides.” The term “with” used on the Welch’s fruit snacks label in reference to fiber is “[c]onspicuously absent” from the FDA’s list, the order stated.
Though the plaintiff argued that “it is not a stretch in the least” to assume that consumers would understand “with fiber” in the same way that they understand “contains fiber,” the judge was not convinced.
“The Court is unfamiliar with the ‘it’s not a stretch’ doctrine, and Plaintiff fails to cite to a single case where a court has extended the definitional reach of ‘good source claims’ beyond the terms set forth in the statue,” Judge DeArcy Hall wrote. “…There is simply no basis to find that the Defendant’s use of the term ‘With Fiber’ runs afoul of FDA regulations.”
The order went on to state that the plaintiff had not alleged that the fruit snacks were without fiber and could not do so since they contain eight percent of the daily allowance of fiber. Therefore, the “with fiber” claim is accurate, the judge found, and the plaintiff has failed to sufficiently allege that the labels are false or misleading.
Welch’s “mixed fruit” and “berries n’ cherries” fruit snacks are at the center of a proposed class action lawsuit wherein a New York man alleges the source of the fiber in the products is not what reasonable consumers may think. The case out of New York claims defendants Welch Foods Inc. and A Cooperative and Promotion in Motion, Inc.’s representations of the fruit snacks are misleading in that the fiber in the products is derived not from real fruit, but from chicory root
Along with boasting the presence of “real fruit,” the products’ labels, the suit says, make note of their vitamin contents, natural coloring, and that the fruit snacks are “with fiber.” Such representations, the lawsuit says, give reasonable consumers the impression that the fruit snacks are nutritious, healthy, and comprised of non-synthetic ingredients.
The complaint, however, picks specifically at Welch’s “with fiber” claim, arguing that displaying the boast prominently on the products’ labels alongside images of fruits can reasonably lead a consumer to believe both that the fruit snacks are dietarily good sources of fiber and that said fiber is derived from the fruits pictured on the label. According to the ingredients list, chicory root fiber, the actual source of fiber in the products, is the fourth-most predominant ingredient by weight, the case says. While “with fiber” may not be inaccurate, the lawsuit argues it is misleading and deceptive all the same:
“The representation – ‘With Fiber’ – gives the impression the Products are a dietarily significant or a good source of fiber, which is false, deceptive and misleading because they contain less than 10% of the DRV per reference amount customarily consumed,” the complaint reads, alleging the fruit snacks are “neither a ‘good source’ of fiber” nor made with fiber derived from fruit.
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