PopChips Cheddar & Sour Cream Snack Label Misleads Consumers as to Flavor Components, Class Action Claims

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A proposed class action claims the PopChips Ridges Cheddar & Sour Cream product sold by VMG Partners, LLC is misleadingly labeled in that the snack contains less cheddar and sour cream than consumers expect.

The 14-page lawsuit says that because the “cheddar & sour cream” representation on the product’s front label contains no flavor qualifications such as “naturally flavored,” “other natural flavors,” or “artificially flavored,” consumers reasonably assume there is a sufficient amount of cheddar and sour cream to flavor the chips. This representation is misleading because the snack derives most of its flavor from sources other than real cheddar and sour cream, a fact not apparent to buyers who rely on the product’s label statements, according to the case.

Although the PopChips contain some cheddar cheese, the ingredients list indicates that the snack also contains added cheddar flavor that’s described with the catch-all “Natural Flavors,” per the case. Based on an analysis of the product, the chips’ “natural flavors” component contains cheddar aroma compounds such as acetic, butyric, caproic, and caprylic acids, the suit alleges, arguing that these flavors are included in the snack because the amount of cheddar cheese in PopChips is insufficient to provide a cheddar taste buyers expect.

The case contends that the front label of the chips is required to disclose the presence of added cheddar flavor by stating “natural cheddar flavored” or “cheddar flavored.”

Per the complaint, consumers have also been misled as to the amount of cheddar cheese in the PopChips product by the presence of annatto and turmeric, which provide an orange color that gives a buyer the impression that the chips contain more cheddar than they actually do.

Still further, the front label also fails to disclose to consumers that the PopChips contain no real sour cream, using instead sour cream flavor components as part of the “natural flavors” added to the product, the suit relays. The case notes that neither “sour cream” nor its components of “cultured milk” and/or “cultured cream” are listed in the PopChips ingredients list.

Consumers prefer real sour cream to flavor additives given it provides health benefits, albeit in small amounts, the lawsuit argues, touting the ingredient’s beneficial bacterial flora and high vitamin and mineral content.

According to the lawsuit, the branding, marketing and packaging of PopChips was “designed to—and does—deceive, mislead, and defraud” consumers, who would not have bought the product, or would have paid less for it, had they known the truth.

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