Pepperidge Farm Hits Back at Claims Butter Crackers Aren’t Buttery Enough

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Pepperidge Farm Illinois Golden Butter Cracker Class Action Lawsuit Overview:

• Who: Pepperidge Farm is being sued by an Illinois consumer.
• Why: The consumer alleges the bakery has misled customers to believe its Golden Butter Crackers contain no vegetable oil
• Where: Illinois

Pepperidge Farm has hit back at a class action lawsuit alleging its Golden Butter Crackers aren’t buttery enough, arguing customers don’t expect the crackers to be made entirely with butter and without any trace of vegetable oil.

The bakery made the argument in a motion to dismiss claims filed against it by Plaintiff Deborah Floyd in an Illinois federal court on Oct. 22.

Floyd filed the class action lawsuit against Pepperidge Farm in June, alleging Pepperidge Farm doesn’t put as much butter in its Golden Butter Crackers as customers expect, violating state false advertising law and federal warranty laws.

Floyd says she bought the product because she wanted to consume a cracker which contained “more butter than it did” and said she was surprised to find Pepperidge Farm used vegetable oils as well as butter, meaning “consumers get less butter.” 

The class action lawsuit alleges Pepperidge Farm sells the product as “Golden Butter” crackers, and when consumers see the marketing they will understand that a “butter cracker” is a type of cracker which is all or predominantly made with butter. 

However, Pepperidge Farm says it shouldn’t be sued for false advertising due to the name of the product. 

“Significantly, the name of the product is not an ingredient list — whether as to the presence of butter or otherwise — and most certainly not a complete ingredient list,” it said in its motion to dismiss. “Likewise, the product name is not an ingredient exclusion list.” 

It added that butter is the second-most predominant ingredient in the product, after flour, and is the sole shortening ingredient in the product. 

“A butter cracker is a type of cracker. The name quickly and conveniently identifies that fact for consumers and distinguishes the product from the many other types of cracker products on grocery store shelves,” the motion states.

“At absolute best for plaintiff, the product’s name may suggest that it contains butter, and any such suggestion would be 100% accurate.”

Class Action Lawsuit Claims Pepperidge Farms Misleads Consumers With Golden Butter Cracker Package Labeling

Floyd has claimed that the bakery’s representations are misleading because even though the product contains butter it also contains butter substitutes – vegetable oils – indicated on the ingredient list. 

Floyd says consumers prefer butter to chemically produced vegetable oils for reasons of taste, and alleges that the vegetable oils detract from the crackers’ flavor and push the butter taste to the background. 

“Defendant did not have to name the Product ‘Golden Butter’ crackers, but chose to, since this is more enticing to consumers,” the claim alleges. 

This is not the first time Pepperidge Farm has been sued over the product’s butter levels. In 2020, a Bronx woman sued Pepperidge Farm in federal court, claiming the labeling of its Golden Butter crackers is false and misleading.

What do you think of Pepperidge Farm’s labeling of its crackers? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiff is represented by Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates, P.C.

The Pepperidge Farm Butter Crackers Class Action Lawsuit is Deborah Floyd, et al., v. Pepperidge Farm, Case No. 3:21-cv-00525, in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Illinois.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• Whole Foods Ice Cream Bars Made With ‘Vegetable Oil Coating,’ Class Action Alleges
• Gerber Baby Foods Contain Dangerous Levels of Toxic Heavy Metals, Says Class Action
• Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s, Mar-Jac Reach Settlements Worth Combined $93.5 Million Over Broiler Chicken Price Fixing Claims
• Sugar Babies, Junior Mints Underfilled Boxes Class Action Claims Tossed—For Now