Home Run Inn Class Action Says Frozen Pizzas Aren’t ‘All Natural’

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Home Run Inn Frozen Foods Corp. has been hit with a class action lawsuit accusing it of misrepresenting some of its frozen pizza products as “All Natural” even though they contain genetically modified and hexane processed ingredients.

Plaintiffs Brian Street and Sebastian Heguaburo filed the natural foods class action lawsuit in Florida federal court earlier this month.

They claim Home Run Inn makes a number of false and deceptive claims on the labels of its pizza products, such as “All Natural” and “No Artificial Ingredients.”

According to the Home Run Inn class action lawsuit, these claims are false and deceptive because the pizza products contain ingredients that are sourced from genetically modified crops.

The plaintiffs point to the World Health Organization’s definition of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as “organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally.” This definition of GMOs includes genetically modified crops, the product mislabeling class action lawsuit says.

Street and Heguaburo assert that the market for natural products is growing and that consumers are willing to pay more for products that are natural, healthy and/or free of GMOs.

They allege that Home Run Inn’s claims that its frozen pizzas are “All Natural” are false because they contain ingredients that are “so heavily altered that they are no longer chemically the same as the raw ingredients.”

According to the frozen pizza class action lawsuit, Home Run Inn knew that consumers would pay a higher price for their pizza products if they displayed an “All Natural” label.

“Defendant knowingly and purposely failed to disclose to its consumes that its Home Run Inn’s frozen pizza products contain genetically modified and hexane processed compounds, making these products falsely labeled and not actually ‘All Natural,’” the plaintiffs argue in the frozen pizza class action lawsuit. They claim that the frozen pizza products are misbranded under Florida law.

Street and Heguaburo claim that they, along with putative Class Members, purchased the Home Run Inn frozen pizza products under the false impression that they were buying products that did not contain genetically modified and hexane processed ingredients.

They claim that they would not have purchased the frozen pizzas—or would not have paid the premium price for them—had they known the truth about the Home Run Inn pizzas.

Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not made an official determination about the circumstances that make the use of a “natural” label appropriate, the agency has stated that the term “natural” on food products means that they contain nothing artificial or synthetic, according to the Home Run Inn pizza class action lawsuit. The plaintiffs assert that reasonable consumers’ understanding of the term matches this definition.

The plaintiffs seek to represent a Class of consumers in the United States as well as a Florida subclass of consumers who purchased Home Run Inn pizza products that were labeled as “All Natural.”

They assert Home Run Inn has violated Florida’s Consumer Protection Statutes, Unfair Trade Practices Act and Misleading Advertising statute. Their product mislabeling class action lawsuit also asserts claims for negligent misrepresentation, breach of express warranty and unjust enrichment.

The plaintiffs are represented by Tim Howard of Howard & Associates PA.

The Home Run Inn “Natural” Frozen Pizza Class Action Lawsuit is Brian Street, et al. v. Home Run Inn Frozen Foods Corp., Case No. 4:16-cv-00644, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Tallahassee Division.