Pepperidge Farm Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Butter Crackers Contain Vegetable Oil

A Bronx woman is suing Pepperidge Farm in federal court, claiming the labeling of a snack produced by the company, “Golden Butter” crackers, is false and misleading.

Plaintiff Hawa Kamara alleges in the class action lawsuit that reasonable consumers expect that a food prominently labeled as “butter” in conjunction with its name would contain butter as its only shortening ingredient.

Kamara purchased the crackers in 2019 and 2020 at a Target store in midtown Manhattan and at other locations, expecting the snack to contain only butter as a shortening ingredient due to the product name and description prominently displayed on the front label, according to the class action lawsuit.

However, the complaint states the Golden Butter Crackers, manufactured by Connecticut-based Pepperidge Farm, contain vegetable oils, including canola, sunflower and/or soybean, in addition to butter, according to the ingredients list. 

The branding and packaging is designed to — and succeeds in — deceiving, misleading and defrauding consumers, the complaint claims. 

“Consumers prefer butter to chemically produced ‘vegetable’ oils when baking for reasons including taste, health and avoidance of highly processed artificial substitutes for butter,” according to the class action lawsuit. 

Since butter costs more than vegetable oil alternatives, companies such as Pepperidge Farm use a combination of the two to try to cut costs, the complaint suggests.

Due to the misleading labeling of the “Golden Butter” crackers, Pepperidge Farm is selling the product at a premium price ($2.64 for 9.75 ounces) and allegedly profiting off of its deception of consumers, according to the class action lawsuit. 

“The value of the product that plaintiff purchased and consumed was materially less than its value as represented by defendant,” the complaint contends.

Had she known the truth, Kamara would not have bought the crackers or would have paid less for them, the complaint states.

“Defendant sold more of the product and at higher prices than it would have in the absence of this misconduct, resulting in additional profits at the expense of consumers like plaintiff,” the class action lawsuit states.  

The Pepperidge Farm Golden Butter Crackers class action lawsuit seeks to represent a Class of consumers, led by Kamara, who reside in New York and purchased the snack.

The class action lawsuit is seeking unspecified monetary damages, as well as a court order stopping Pepperidge Farm from its alleged false advertising. 

Kamara’s counsel and another lawyer represented plaintiffs in a similar class action lawsuit against Pepperidge Farm in 2018, challenging the labeling and ingredients of its Texas Toast product.

That case was filed on behalf of plaintiff Emoney Gibbs, a consumer who was unhappy that Pepperidge Farm’s Texas Toast was reportedly made with only two percent or less butter and relied mainly on palm and soybean oils for its fat.

Claims made in the Pepperidge Farm Golden Butter crackers class action lawsuit echo those made in the 2018 suit, which alleged that Pepperidge Farm attempted to minimize the vegetable oil content in its Texas Toast in order to deceive consumers looking for a less-processed product.

“No reasonable consumer expects that when they buy and consume a product which has a deep association with butter, and touts its butter bona-fides on the front and back labels, butter will be present in such a minute quantity,” the 2018 class action lawsuit argued. “Moreover, it is not expected that a product promoting the presence of butter will contain predominantly vegetable oils as its relevant lipid source.”

Have you purchased Pepperidge Farm Golden Butter Crackers? Did you know they contained vegetable oils as well as butter? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiff and proposed Class Members are represented by Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates PC.

The Pepperidge Farm Golden Butter Crackers Class Action Lawsuit is Hawa Kamara v. Pepperidge Farm Inc., Case No. 1:20-cv-09012, in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York.

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