Quaker Class Action Says Cereals Stated Health Benefits are Misleading

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A Quaker class action lawsuit accuses the company of falsely advertising the health benefit statements made on its cereal and granola bars packaging.

The Quaker class action lawsuit says the defendants are trying to appeal to consumers’ desire for nutritious and wholesome foods that help them to avoid additives and other ingredients inside highly-processed foods.

The Quaker Oats class action lawsuit references numerous products manufactured by Quaker, including their chewy granola bars, their instant oatmeal, their overnight oats, and their oatmeal squares.

The Quaker cereal class action lawsuit points out that detailed statements about health benefits of their products are listed on the exterior packages.

The Quaker Old Fashioned Oats product, as named in the lawsuit, bears label statements that it is 100 percent whole grain and non-GMO.

Other products claim to help in reducing cholesterol or reducing the risk of heart disease.

The Quaker class action lawsuit refers to these statements as product health representations and argues that these appear on all of the products named in the legal action.

The lead plaintiff in the Quaker cereal class action lawsuit says consumers are led to believe these products are reasonably safe for consumption.

Research shared in the Quaker class action lawsuit, however, shows that the products might contain glyphosate.

The plaintiff explains that the Environmental Working Group recently completed testing that showed a number of the defendant’s products contain this problematic ingredient.

The Quaker Old Fashioned Oats allegedly had the highest levels of glyphosate for all items tested.

Glyphosate is an ingredient popular in weedkillers. While quite effective for killing weeds, many consumers have taken legal action over the inclusion of glyphosate in spray weedkillers such as Roundup. Those consumers allege that continuous exposure to sprayed glyphosate can lead to cancer.

The Quaker class action lawsuit points out that consumers would not expect a contaminant or weedkilling agent like glyphosate to be found in food items, especially food items that are marketed as having health benefits for the consumer.

The Quaker class action lawsuit states that glyphosate is a likely carcinogen with no known nutritional value that no amount of this ingredient should be found in Quaker’s food products.

The lawsuit also states that no reasonable consumer would buy the mentioned products if they knew that glyphosate was inside since there are many safer alternatives available from other companies.

The arguments submitted in the Quaker class action lawsuit accuse the defendants of being aware of the glyphosate inside but failing to warn the public about it.

The Quaker cereal class action lawsuit argues that the defendants had a responsibility to make this product information available on the information labels or boxes.

The plaintiff in the Quaker class action lawsuit says he regularly purchased these items without knowing that glyphosate was inside.

The plaintiff has proposed a multi-state Class of affected consumers, including those who purchased affected items in California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Washington.

The proposed Class in the Quaker class action lawsuit is represented by Todd L. McLawhorn, Stewart M. Welton, and Michael Chang of Siprut PC and Mila F. Bartos of Finkelstein Thompson LLP.

The Quaker Oats Cereal Class Action Lawsuit is Lawrence Brandon, et al. v. Pepsico Inc., et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-08234, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.