Mazola Canola Oil Advertised as ‘100% Pure’ Despite Containing Hexane, Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action lawsuit alleges Mazola canola oil is falsely advertised as “100% Pure” in that it contains hexane, a component of gasoline.

The 11-page lawsuit alleges that defendant ACH Food Companies has sold Mazola canola oil at a premium price based on representations that the oil is pure. According to the suit, however, independent testing has revealed that the canola oil contains .97 micrograms of hexane per gram.

The lawsuit argues that reasonable consumers have been misled by the “100% Pure” representation on the Mazola canola oil’s front label in that they understood the statement to mean that the product would contain no hexane.

According to the suit, the presence of hexane is a “tell-tale sign” that the Mazola product was produced by extracting oil from rapeseed using chemical solvents instead of an expeller press that physically squeezes the oil from rapeseed. Production of canola oil via an expeller press “comes at a premium price,” the case notes, given it is more time-consuming and expensive. This method also produces a lower yield of canola oil than the solvent method, the complaint adds.

Per the case, consumers are willing to pay a premium price for canola oil produced via an expeller press because it contains fewer impurities and is perceived as being more “heart healthy.”

The lawsuit alleges that ACH Food Companies was “undoubtedly aware” that solvent-extracted canola oil may contain hexane yet nonetheless falsely represented that the Mazola canola oil product was 100 percent pure.

The case looks to cover anyone in the U.S. who purchased Mazola canola oil.

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