Great Value Honey Mustard Contains Less Honey Than Advertised, Class Action Claims

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A proposed class action lawsuit alleges Walmart’s Great Value-brand Honey Mustard is misleadingly advertised in that the condiment is sweetened mostly with sugar, and not honey.

The 16-page lawsuit alleges that the “Made With Real Honey” statement on the product’s front label leads reasonable consumers to expect that honey is the “exclusive, primary, or significant” sweetener in the honey mustard. The product’s ingredients list nevertheless reveals that sugar is the fourth-most predominant ingredient while honey is listed sixth, the suit states.

According to the case, consumers have overpaid for the Great Value Honey Mustard product as a result of Walmart’s misrepresentations.

“The value of the Product that Plaintiff purchased was materially less than its value as represented by Defendant,” the complaint reads. “Defendant sold more of the Product and at higher prices than it would have in the absence of this misconduct, resulting in additional profits at the expense of consumers.”

The lawsuit relays that many consumers prefer foods sweetened with honey over those sweetened with sugar due to perceptions that honey is healthier and more natural than processed sugar.

Per the suit, although buyers are led to expect that the Great Value honey mustard product contains more honey than sugar, this is not true. Given the nutrition facts panel discloses the amounts of added sugar and salt in the product, which are both listed before honey within the ingredients list, the lawsuit estimates that the honey mustard contains almost 16 times more sugar than honey.

“Honey is not a significant sweetening ingredient in the Product based on these calculations,” the complaint reads, adding that it is not “technologically or commercially unfeasible” to make a honey mustard product that contains honey as its primary sweetener.

The plaintiff, a Taylorville, Illinois resident, says she would not have purchased the Great Value Honey Mustard, or would have paid less for it, had she known the product contained more sugar than honey.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in Illinois, North Dakota, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Nebraska, South Carolina, Kansas or Wyoming who purchased the Great Value Honey Mustard product within the applicable statute of limitations.

Get class action lawsuit news sent to your inbox – sign up for ClassAction.org’s newsletter here.