General Mills Settles Nature Valley ‘All Natural’ Class Action Lawsuits

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General Mills Inc. has reportedly reached a class action settlement over allegations it deceptively described some of its Nature Valley products as “natural.”

The first Nature Valley class action lawsuit was filed in California by plaintiff Judith Janney in July 2012. She alleged General Mills deceptively labeled some of its Nature Valley products as “Natural,” “All Natural” and “100% Natural” even though they contain high fructose corn syrup, high maltose corn syrup and maltodextrin.

Subsequently, three similar Nature Valley class action lawsuits were filed against General Mills in October 2012. At issue are the labels on more than two dozen types of Nature Valley granola bars.

The plaintiffs asserted the Nature Valley granola bar labels were misleading and that they would not have purchased the products if they had known they weren’t actually “100% Natural.” General Mills argued that its ingredient list clarified any possible misconceptions and that the labels therefore weren’t misleading.

General Mills fought the litigation and was successful in getting a Minnesota class action lawsuit dismissed. However, in March, a California federal judge refused to dismiss the three Nature Valley class action lawsuits that were pending in California.

General Mills has denied the allegations listed in all of the Nature Valley class action lawsuits, but it agreed to enter into mediation in effort to resolve the dispute. Last week, General Mills reportedly agreed to settle the remaining class action lawsuits to avoid the burden, expense and distraction of continued litigation.

Under the terms of the proposed Nature Valley class action settlement, General Mills has agreed to stop using the “100% Natural” claims on products unless the product contains less than 0.9 percent of any ingredients derived from bioengineered crops or plant material and unless the product does not contain calcium carbonate, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, high maltose corn syrup, dextrose monohydrate, glycerin, maltodextrin, sodium bicarbonate, soy lecithin, soy protein isolate and tocopherols. General Mills also agrees not to use the “100% Natural” designation to apply to any of these ingredients.

The General Mills class action lawsuit was just one of many currently pending over the use of “All Natural” claims on product labels. These class action lawsuits accuse food companies of deceiving health-minded consumers into thinking their products are entirely derived from natural sources even though they contain artificial or synthetic ingredients.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not clarified the definition of “natural,” a fact that complicates consumers’ efforts to ensure the labels on their foods are not deceptive. Further, the agency rarely enforces the current regulations, which merely state that foods labeled as “natural” do “not contain added color, artificial flavors, or synthetic substances.”

Further information about the Nature Valley class action settlement was not immediately available. Keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter for the latest updates. You can also mark this article as a “Favorite” using your free Top Class Actions account to receive notifications when this article is updated.

The plaintiffs are represented by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Michael R. Reese of Reese Richman LLP and Steven M. Sherman of Sherman Business Law.

The Nature Valley Granola Bar Class Action Lawsuits are Nicole Van Atta v. General Mills Inc., Case No. 1:12-cv-02815, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, and Gabriel Rojas, et al. v. General Mills Inc., Case No. 3:12-cv-05099, Sean Bohac, et al. v. General Mills Inc., Case No. 3:12-cv-05280, and Judith Janney, et al. v. General Mills Inc., Case No. 3:12-cv-03919, all in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.