Trader Joe’s Class Action Says Dried Fruit Packages Are 69% Empty

A class action lawsuit recently removed to federal court alleges that Trader Joe’s significantly under-fills bags of its store-brand dried fruit products.

The Trader Joe’s class action lawsuit argues that the amount of “slack-fill” in the dried fruit bags is unnecessary as 69 percent of the package is empty space.

Plaintiff Gabriel Barrere challenges Trader Joe’s practice of under-filling its dried fruit bags and using opaque packaging to hide it.

The FDA allows for a some slack-fill, or air, to be present in food packaging, so long as it is functional. Slack-fill is determined to be functional if it serves one or more of the following purposes:

• Protection of the contents of the package;
• The requirements of the machines used for enclosing the contents in such package;
• Unavoidable product settling during shipping and handling;
• The need for the package to perform a specific function, where such function is inherent to the nature of the food and is clearly communicated to consumers;
• The fact that the product consists of a food packaged in a reusable container where the nature is part of the presentation [and value] of the food;
• Inability to increase level of fill or to further reduce the size of the package

The Trader Joe’s class action lawsuit claims that the slack-fill that exists in excess of what is necessary to perform these functions is considered “non-functional.”

Allegedly, the empty space in the Trader Joe’s died fruit packages amounts to non-functional slack-fill and therefore is in violation of the law. 

Barrere says that the packages could contain much more dried fruit than they do, but instead, they are mostly full of air.

Allegedly, Trader Joe’s knows that consumers rely on package size to make purchasing decisions, as opposed to examining the listed quantity, because many consumers do not have a knowledge of how much product can be contained in a certain quantity.

Barrere claims that the packaging of the dried fruit violates federal regulations requiring product labeling to not “correct misleading fill” because it leads consumers to think that there is more product in the bag than there actually is.

According to the Trader Joe’s slack-fill class action lawsuit, Barrere was financially injured by Trader Joe’s because she did not receive the quantity of the product that she paid for and was effectively promised by the size of the packaging.
On behalf of all similarly affected consumers, Barrere seeks damages sustained as a result of the company’s alleged deception and violations of California business law and nationwide common law.

Barrere is represented by Thomas Martin III of Martin & Bontrager APC.

The Trader Joe’s Dried Fruit Packaging Slack-Fill Class Action Lawsuit is Gabriel Barrere v. Trader Joe’s Company, Case No. 2:19-cv-04297, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.        

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