TGI Friday’s Mozzarella Sticks Contain No Mozzarella Cheese, Class Action Claims

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Inventure Foods’ TGI Fridays-brand mozzarella sticks do not contain mozzarella cheese, a proposed class action claims, alleging consumers are misled by the product’s label.

The 12-page lawsuit out of New York contends that buyers are misled given the “flavor statements” on the product’s label are intended to “disavow the presence of any mozzarella cheese,” a tactic the case calls “a sleight of hand on the hurried consumer” who might spend only a moment in deciding to make a purchase. 

As the suit tells it, even the product’s name—“mozzarella sticks snacks”—is misleading because the most present ingredient is cornmeal, saying nothing of the fact that the “natural and artificially flavored” product does not contain mozzarella cheese.

“Though the Product’s front label states ‘Natural and Artificially Flavored,’ no reasonable consumer will expect this statement means they should not expect any mozzarella cheese,” the complaint says, summarizing that the product’s label simply fails to tell consumers the snack contains no mozzarella.

With regard to the product’s ingredients list, the complaint points out that cheddar cheese is present while mozzarella is not. In contrast to mozzarella, cheddar is a “hard” cheese that’s less suitable for chewing and lacks the dairy taste of real mozzarella, the suit states. Per the case, real mozzarella is more nutritious than cheddar because it contains more calcium, less fat and fewer calories. 

According to the lawsuit, the labeling of TGI Friday’s mozzarella sticks does not jibe with federal food labeling regulations with regard to the designation of a food’s name and characterizing flavor. Per the suit, food labeling regulations require foods to be named with an “appropriately descriptive term” that describes the “basic nature of the food or its characterizing properties or ingredients.” 

The suit asserts that because the mozzarella sticks lack a non-misleading common or usual name, consumers do not conclude that the “natural and artificially flavored” statement modifies the product’s “mozzarella sticks snacks” description. By using “mozzarella” as part of the product’s name, consumers get the false impression that the snack contains mozzarella in an “appreciable, non de minimis amount,” the complaint reads. 

“Defendant’s branding and packaging of the Product is designed to—and does—deceive, mislead, and defraud plaintiff and consumers,” the lawsuit alleges, claiming Inventure Foods has been able to sell more of the product and at higher prices than it would have absent its inaccurate labeling. 

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