Kettle Lawsuit Claims ‘Air Fried’ Potato Chips Are Actually Oil Fried

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A proposed class action claims Campbell Soup Company has misled consumers into believing that its Kettle Brand “Air Fried” potato chips are cooked exclusively in an air fryer.

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The 17-page case alleges that by labeling the Kettle Brand chips as “air fried,” Campbell Soup Co. suggests that the products are cooked entirely by circulated convection currents (i.e., air) in a convection oven with little or no oil. According to the lawsuit, this label claim differentiates the products from traditional, less healthy potato chips that are fried in vats of oil.

However, despite the air-fried representation, the Kettle Brand chips at issue are, in fact, deep fried in oil and then merely “air finished,” the complaint alleges.

Although the products’ packaging specifies that they are “Kettle Cooked Air Finished,” this phrase fails to remedy the “deceptive nature” of the far more prominent “Air Fried” claim, the suit argues. First, at least one Campbell representative has admitted that the chips are not cooked in kettles—and even if they were, the phrase “kettle cooked” implies the use of steam rather than oil, the case says.

“Finally, the phrase is, at best, ambiguous since ‘Kettle’ is the brand name, leaving reasonable consumers to interpret the phrase is as a marketing jingle,” the filing states.

The plaintiff, a California resident, says he was looking for a healthy snack in November 2023 and bought the Kettle Brand chips based on the belief that air frying was the only method used to cook the products. The complaint claims the plaintiff and other customers would not have bought the snacks had they known they were prepared in an oil fryer. 

“[The defendant] profited by selling the products to tens of thousands of unsuspecting California consumers and secured the purchase price from such consumers which it otherwise would not have secured but for the misrepresentations,” the filing summarizes.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone who purchased any flavor of Kettle Brand “Air Fried” potato chips since February 15, 2023.

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