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A class action lawsuit filed by a California man accuses Dole of using deceptive health and wellness claims to market foods with high sugar content.
Plaintiff Salvador Amaya takes issue with several products made by defendant Dole Packaged Foods LLC, all of which he says are “represented to be healthy despite that they contain substantial amounts of added sugar.”
Dole Fruit & Oatmeal, for example, is labeled with representations like “Taste the delicious difference of real fruit,” the plaintiff claims.
According to the class action lawsuit, the Dole packaging states that “It’s a healthy, satisfying breakfast you can enjoy anywhere,” and contains “No Trans Fat or Cholesterol.”
Amaya points out that the various flavors of Dole Fruit & Oatmeal contain as much as 16 grams of sugar per serving, accounting for more than 17 percent of the product’s weight.
The plaintiff also takes issue with Dole Parfait, labeled with language like “Live Well” and “Feel revitalized with the fresh taste of sun-ripened DOLE all natural fruit.”
According to Amaya, one cup of Dole Parfait Pineapple & Crème contains more than half the American Heart Association’s recommended daily sugar intake for men, 80 percent of the recommended intake for women, and up to 175 percent of the recommended intake for children.
The Dole class action lawsuit cites a multitude of scientific sources purportedly linking excess sugar consumption to metabolic syndrome, type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, obesity, inflammation, high cholesterol, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, and an increased risk of cancer.
According to Amaya’s Dole class action lawsuit, the plaintiff purchased Dole Fruit & Oatmeal and Dole Parfait products on several occasions over the past two or three years.
He says in choosing those products, he relied on representations by Dole saying they were a healthy food choice. Amaya alleges he didn’t get what he paid for.
The plaintiff says the Dole products he bought were priced higher than similar products that were not represented as healthy foods, and he would not have paid a premium for the Dole products had he known the company’s health and wellness claims were misleading.
Amaya also believes he has likely suffered bodily harm due to these alleged misrepresentations, in the form of increased risk of disease or morbidity.
Amaya wants to represent a plaintiff Class consisting of “all persons in the United States who, at any time from four years preceding the date of the filing of this Complaint to the time a class is notified, purchased Dole Fruit & Oatmeal or Dole Parfait products for their own personal, family, or household use and not for resale.”
He seeks a court order that would bar Dole from continuing to advertise the products at issue using health and wellness claims and that would require Dole to engage in a corrective advertising campaign.
The plaintiff also seeks an award of actual, compensatory, statutory and punitive damages, disgorgement of revenues gained due to the alleged acts, court costs and attorneys’ fees.
Amaya is represented by attorneys Jack Fitzgerald, Trevor M. Flynn and Melanie Persinger of The Law Office of Jack Fitzgerald PC.
The Dole Packaged Foods Excessive Sugar Class Action Lawsuit is Amaya v. Dole Packaged Foods LLC, Case No. 2:15-cv-7734, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
UPDATE: The Dole Packaged Foods Excessive Sugar Class Action Lawsuit was dismissed on January 18, 2017.
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45 thoughts onDole Class Action: Packaged Foods Promoted as ‘Healthy’ are Too Sugary
Please add me. I have been buying this product for a long time,
I have eaten this regularly also thinking it was a healthy alternative to other snacks especially with my Type II Diabetes. My A1c has continued to be high over the last several years. Please include me.
I have eating a lot of this stuff thinking it was a healthy alternative to other snacks out there. No wonder my A1c has been so high over the las several years. Count me in.
I eat this stuff and feed it to my mom, 100 and little boy, 7. I want to be included as a plaintiff please, Jaack.
How do I sign up for the following class action?
The Dole Packaged Foods Excessive Sugar Class Action Lawsuit is Amaya v. Dole Packaged Foods LLC, Case No. 2:15-cv-7734, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Thank you,
J R
The case is still moving through the courts and has not yet reached a settlement. Claim forms are usually not made available to consumers until after a court approved settlement is reached. We recommend you sign up for a free account at TopClassActions.com and follow the case. We will update the article with any major case developments or settlement news! Setting up a free account with Top Class Actions will allow you to receive instant updates on ANY article that you ‘Follow’ on our website. A link to creating an account may be found here: https://topclassactions.com/signup/. You can then ‘Follow’ the article above, and get notified immediately when we post updates!
You can always contact class counsel with any questions about the case. Current counsel is listed in the article and can be Googled for contact information.
How do I file a claim?
The case is still moving through the courts and has not yet reached a settlement. Claim forms are usually not made available to consumers until after a court approved settlement is reached. We recommend you sign up for a free account at TopClassActions.com and follow the case. We will update the article with any major case developments or settlement news! Setting up a free account with Top Class Actions will allow you to receive instant updates on ANY article that you ‘Follow’ on our website. A link to creating an account may be found here: https://topclassactions.com/signup/. You can then ‘Follow’ the article above, and get notified immediately when we post updates!
I have brought this product dole fruit everytime I went grocery shopping for my husband at the time he is type two diabetic and He always wanted Dole fruit because he thought it was that sweet or didn’t have a lot of sugar but his blood sugar kept staying high and he was in and out of The hospital to get it down in 2015 he had to have a left leg amputation because of high blood Sugar he needed a lot of care Now he’s in the Nursing Home and Im just seeing this and my Sister just brought him some more Dole fruits and jellied fruit just December 2017 because he like it and didn’t know it wad causing a medical problem. We want buy No more for him but the damage is done now.