Annie’s Homegrown Class Action Says Ice Cream Doesn’t Contain Real Vanilla

A recent class action lawsuit claims that Annie’s Homegrown ice cream sandwiches don’t contain real vanilla, contrary to its advertisements.

Annie’s Homegrown Inc., a natural brand renowned for their organic products, sells ice cream sandwiches in 12 packs.

These products reportedly feature vanilla ice cream between chocolate wafers, an ice cream classic recognizable to most consumers.

However, plaintiff Nancy Housell says the products contain “organic natural flavor” instead of only vanilla extract.

Vanilla is a common flavor that is reportedly subject to frequent food fraud. Standardized vanilla ingredients such as vanilla extract, vanilla flavoring, concentrating vanilla flavoring, and vanilla powder are reportedly derived from the vanilla plant.

Due to the price of pure vanilla flavorings, some companies may choose to use vanillin ingredients derived from non-vanilla bean sources such as wood pulp, coal tar, eugenol, lignin, or plant fiber.

In order to ensure that consumers know the type of vanilla products they are purchasing, federal regulations strictly control how products can be labeled.

If a product contains only real vanilla, they can be labeled as simply “vanilla.” If products contain an artificial flavor simulating the characterizing flavor, they must be labeled as “vanilla flavored.” If products contain more artificial flavoring than natural flavoring for the characterizing flavor, they must be labeled with “artificially flavored vanilla.”

Despite allegedly listing “organic natural flavor” in the ingredient list, Annie’s Homegrown ice cream sandwiches are only labeled as “vanilla.” Even if this ingredient listing refers to vanilla with other natural flavors, the Annie’s Homegrown class action lawsuit argues that this must be disclosed on the packaging.

Instead, the products are allegedly falsely labeled as “Vanilla Ice Cream” and “Organic Vanilla Ice Cream.” The product labeling reportedly contains further statements that the ice cream sandwiches contain “No Flavors, Colors or Preservatives from Artificial Sources.”

The Annie’s Homegrown ice cream class action also references other competitor products which are allegedly flavored with only vanilla extract. These products are reportedly marketed legally as “vanilla” and “with real organic vanilla.” Housell argues that Annie’s Homegrown ice cream falls short of these competitive benchmarks.

“Defendant’s Product is misleading because it is represented as identical to another product which contains higher quality ingredients, which causes consumers to be misled and purchase the former expecting the two products to be identical in quality and fill,” the Annie’s Homegrown ice cream class action claims.

The Annie’s Homegrown class action lawsuit also argues that consumers like Housell would not have paid as much for the products if they knew that they didn’t contain real vanilla.

Housell seeks to represent a Class of consumers who purchased the Annie’s Homegrown ice cream sandwiches. She also seeks to represent a subclass of the same consumers from New York.

Did you purchase Annie’s Homegrown ice cream based on representations that the products contained vanilla? Let us know in the comment section below.

Housell and the proposed Class are represented by Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates and Michael R. Reese of Reese LLP.

The Annie’s Homegrown Ice Cream Sandwiches Class Action Lawsuit is Housell v. Annie’s Homegrown Inc., Case No. 7:19-cv-09670, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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