Trader Joe’s Salty Sunflower Seeds Class Action Lawsuit Launched

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The sunflower seeds sold by Trader Joe’s Co. are saltier than the label states, alleges a consumer, who filed a putative class action lawsuit against the grocery chain Tuesday. She claims that Trader Joe’s is misleading consumers by marketing the sunflower seeds as a healthy snack, only detailing the sodium content of the sunflower kernels on the packaging’s nutrition labels, when in fact the shells are very high in sodium.

Plaintiff Nicolle DiSimone, who filed the Trader Joe’s class action lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, argues that the sunflower seed shells are also put into customers’ mouths, so that the sodium content of both the kernels and the shells should be included in the nutrition facts label. The actual amount of sodium is about four times higher, according to the Trader Joe’s class action lawsuit.

DiSimone’s potential class action lawsuit is based on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s requirement that food manufacturers provide the nutrition content of food products, including the amount of sodium, prominently on the package labeling.

“Unprocessed sunflower seeds are naturally low in sodium,” the Trader Joe’s sunflower seeds class action lawsuit states. However, Trader Joe’s “adds sodium to the sunflower seeds and then markets the product without disclosing the dangerously high sodium content contained in both the sunflower kernels and the sunflower shells. [Trader Joe’s] then markets the product as a ‘good’ or healthy snack,” the complaint goes on.

The proposed Trader Joe’s class action lawsuit is brought on alleged violations of the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, California False Advertising Law, and California’s Unfair Competition Law. It is seeking to refund the purchase price or the partial purchase price of the sunflower seeds purchased by all U.S. consumers who purchased Trader Joe’s brand sunflower seeds during the Class Period (which dates back four years from the filing of the claim — to May 2010 — or the length of the longest statute of limitations for any claim asserted, whichever is longer). It is also seeking equitable relief in the form of an order enjoining Trader Joe’s from marketing the sunflower seeds as “healthy” and “good” and disclosing the amount of sodium contained in both the sunflower kernels and the sunflower seed shells.

The Trader Joe’s class action lawsuit details U.S. Center for Disease Control warnings of the dangers of high sodium to heart health and high blood pressure, and claims, “[t]he sunflower seeds are not healthy and are worse than some fast foods, which are generally considered to be unhealthy… A consumer eating a single serving of [Trader Joe’s] sunflower seeds would consume 2,353 milligrams of sodium–nearly seven times as much sodium as the large order of McDonald’s French fries and more than the total amount of sodium recommended each day.”

DiSimone is represented by Christopher P. Ridout, Devon M. Lyon and Caleb Marker of Ridout Lyon & Ottoson LLP and Shafiel A. Karim of the Law Offices of Shafiel A. Karim.

The Trader Joe’s  Sunflower Seed Class Action Lawsuit is Nicolle DiSimone et al. v. Trader Joe’s Co., Case No. BC544924, in Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.