Suit Claims Annie’s Naturals Products Dressed with False Labels

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A California woman has filed suit against Annie’s Homegrown, Inc. and General Mills, Inc. over allegations that they deceptively market their Annie’s Naturals salad dressings as “natural” products when they, in fact, contain a synthetic ingredient. The plaintiff, whom the complaint describes as a “health conscious consumer,” says she bought the defendants’ salad dressing under the impression that it would be free from synthetic ingredients. In fact, the labels on the dressings claim the products contain “No artificial flavors, synthetic colors or synthetic preservatives,” the complaint notes. The suit argues, however, that Annie’s Naturals dressings list xanthan gum as an ingredient, which the complaint says is “a powerful synthetic thickener that is commercially manufactured.”

The complaint notes that consumers will pay a premium price for a product they believe is natural and claims that proposed class members have been deceived by the defendants’ labeling. “Because the Products are not in fact wholly natural,” the suit continues, “the Products are actually worth less than they are represented, and [the plaintiff and proposed class members] have paid extra for them.”

The suit seeks to cover the following proposed class:

“All citizens of the United States, its territories and Puerto Rico who purchased Annie’s Natural products for personal, household, or family purposes in the six years preceding the filing of this Petition.”