Panera Class Action Lawsuit Says Blueberry Bagels Don’t Contain Fruit

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A Panera class action lawsuit says the restaurant chain’s blueberry bagels contain mostly lumps of sugar and flour, instead of real blueberries.

Plaintiff Jose Izquierdo claims that he purchased a Panera Bread Company’s Blueberry Bagel believing from the product’s name that it was made with real blueberries.

Izquierdo says that after he purchased the product, he discovered that it contained mostly lumps of sugar and enriched wheat flour, and made with only a few real blueberries

The Panera class action lawsuit claims that had he known the blueberry bagel contained lumps of sugar and flour and only a few berries, he would not have purchased the bagel or would not have paid as much for it.

The plaintiff says he was financially injured by Panera Bread Company because he received a lower-quality product than he was advertised.

The Panera Bread class action lawsuit alleges that many other customers were similarly misled by the product’s branding, and seeks damages on behalf of himself and all other similarly affected consumers.

According to the Panera bagel class action lawsuit, the blueberry bagel that Panera Bread sells is falsely advertised as containing real blueberries, which are higher in quality and more expensive than the lumps of sugar and flour that the company allegedly substitutes for real blueberries in their bagels.

Allegedly, many consumers seek out real blueberries for their health benefits, and these consumers would not receive the same health benefits from the imitation blueberries, and as a result, were denied the full benefit of their purchase.

The plaintiff states that Panera Bread Company lists on the ingredient list that the bagels contain “blueberry favored bites” which are made out of sugar, flour, and artificial blueberry flavoring, but does not indicate this in the name of prominent advertisement of the product.

According to the Panera class action, the bread company intended to mislead customers into thinking that the bagels contained real blueberries because blueberries are more desirable than “blueberry flavored bites” and are of higher value.

The plaintiff argues that Panera Bread deceives its customers in an attempt to entice them to buy the product.

The Panera blueberry bagels class action lawsuit argues that many reasonable consumers like Izquierdo would be misled into believing that the bagel contained real blueberries and not imitation “blueberry flavored bites.”

The plaintiff notes that the bagels contain real blueberries, but that the blueberries appear after the “blueberry flavored bites” on the ingredient list, meaning that they are less numerous than the “blueberry flavored bites.” He claims that the bagels are misbranded, which is a violation of New York law.

The Panera bagel class action states that New York law considers a food to be misbranded if it is made from the imitation of another food but is not labeled as being imitation in equal prominence to the label of the imitated food.

The plaintiff goes on to argue that the Panera Blueberry Bagel is prominently advertised as being made with blueberries, but the imitation blueberries, or “blueberry flavored bites” are not as prominently advertised.

Izquierdo is represented by C.K. Lee and Anne Seelig of Lee Litigation Group PLLC.

The Panera Bread Blueberry Bagel Class Action Lawsuit is Jose Izquierdo v. Panera Bread Company a/k/a St. Louis Bread Co., Case No. 1:18-cv-12127, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.