Fleischmann’s Baking Mixes Sold in Half-Empty Boxes, Class Action Says

A California man says Fleischmann’s baking mixes are misleadingly packaged in boxes that are twice the size of the mix inside.

Plaintiff Anthony Buso says defendant ACH Food Companies Inc. has been grossly underfilling its boxes of Fleischmann’s Simply Homemade Baking Mix products.

These mixes, sold in opaque, cardstock boxes, contain a bag of mix that takes up only half the space inside the box, Buso claims. The rest of the box is empty.

Buso says he bought a box of Fleischmann’s Simply Homemade Baking Mix Cornbread on the assumption that the size of the box was a reasonable indicator of the amount of the product inside. By the time he got the box home and opened it, he says, he was surprised and disappointed to find it was half empty.

Because the box is opaque, consumers can’t see how much product is inside, Buso notes. Consumers are therefore more likely to use the size of the box to gauge the volume of the product.

Research backs up that theory, according to this Fleischmann’s class action lawsuit. He quotes research from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, which found that consumers are more likely to choose a larger box over a smaller box because they perceive the larger box represents a better value.

This Fleischmann’s class action lawsuit shows a photo of a Fleischmann’s Simply Homemade Baking Mix Cornbread box next to the bag of mix that gets packaged inside the box. The bag appears to be about half the size of the box.

“Judging from the sizes of the container, a reasonable consumer would expect them to be substantially filled with product,” Buso says. “Consumers are misled into believing that they are purchasing substantially more Fleischmann’s Simply Homemade Baking Mix product than they receive.”

Buso argues that the empty space in the box constitutes “non-functional slack-fill,” an excess of empty space that the law says is misleading to consumers.

Under California’s Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, slack-fill has a limited number of permissible uses. For example, extra space in a product’s packaging may legitimately be used to protect the contents, or if the product’s labeling requires so much information that a larger package is necessary to display it.

But excess slack-fill beyond those amounts misrepresents the amount of the product, Buso claims – especially if the packaging is opaque. The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act says a container that doesn’t allow the consumer to fully view its contents is considered misleading if it contains non-functional slack-fill.

Buso is proposing a plaintiff Class that would cover all California residents who purchased containers of Fleischmann’s products that contain non-functional slack-fill, as defined by California law, during the applicable statutory limitations period.

He seeks an award of actual, punitive and compensatory damages, injunctive relief, court costs, attorneys’ fees, and prejudgment interest on all amounts awarded.

Buso is represented by attorney Scott. J. Ferrell of Pacific Trial Attorneys.

The Fleischmann’s Simply Homemade Slack-Fill Class Action Lawsuit is Buso v. ACH Food Companies Inc., Case No. 3:17-cv-01872, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.