Kroger Class Action over ‘0g Trans Fat’ Bread Crumbs Gets Dismissed

A California federal judge has dismissed a class action lawsuit that alleges The Kroger Co.’s store-brand bread crumbs are mislabeled as having “0g Trans Fat.”

Plaintiff Shavonda Hawkins filed the Kroger class action lawsuit in October 2015, accusing the grocery chain of violating California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, Consumer Legal Remedies Act, breach of implied warranty of merchantability and breach of express warranty.

In the food labeling class action lawsuit, Hawkins claims that Kroger misleadingly and unlawfully advertises its store-brand bread crumbs as containing “0g Trans Fat” when it actually contains more than 0g (but less than 0.5g) trans fat. She alleges there is no safe level of partially hydrogenated oil because consumption of trans fat can have adverse effects on the cardiovascular system, contributes to mental decline, causes Type-2 diabetes and is linked to multiple forms of cancer.

Although Hawkins allegedly purchased the Kroger bread crumbs products for the last 15 years, she says she did not become aware that they contained trans fats until August 2015.

By filing the Kroger trans fat class action lawsuit, Hawkins sought to represent a Class of anyone who purchased Kroger bread crumb products containing partially hydrogenated oil in the United States on or after Jan. 1, 2008.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey T. Miller dismissed the trans fat class action lawsuit after finding that Hawkins had not sufficiently alleged that she relied on the “0g Trans Fat” label when making the decision to purchase Kroger bread crumbs for the last 15 years.

Hawkins maintained in the class action lawsuit that the lack of trans fat was a substantial factor in her decision to purchase the Kroger bread crumbs. She said that she, like most consumers, “is a busy person and cannot reasonably inspect every ingredient of every food that she purchases.”

Judge Miller found that Hawkins failed to adequately show that she relied on the “0g Trans Fat” label when she made the purchase.

“In essence, Plaintiff alleges that she used KBCs (i.e. generic bread crumbs) over 90 times since 2000,” Judge Miller says in his order dismissing the Kroger bread crumbs class action lawsuit. “Plaintiff cannot simply establish that she relied upon the unread statements in 2000 to support the August 2015 purchase and/or discovery of the statement (‘0g Trans Fat’), or that the statement caused her any injury.”

Judge Miller also found that Hawkins “fails to cite any authorities excusing her failure to establish reliance because she was too busy to read the label over a 15 year period of time. Finally, Plaintiff cannot possibly have relied on the allegedly false statement because she purchased KBCs for 15 years before learning of the statement.”

Because Judge Miller found there were no circumstances under which Hawkins could establish standing, he dismissed the Kroger bread crumbs class action lawsuit and will not give her an opportunity to file an amended complaint.

Hawkins is represented by Gregory S. Weston of The Weston Firm.

The Kroger ‘0g Trans Fat’ Bread Crumbs Class Action Lawsuit is Hawkins v. The Kroger Co., Case No. 3:15-cv-02320, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

UPDATE: On Oct. 4, 2018, a class action lawsuit alleging that Kroger bread crumbs are wrongfully marketed as containing “zero grams of trans fat,” has been revived after the Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court’s decision.