Boar’s Head Class Action Says ‘Natural’ Cheese Contains GMOs

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Boar’s Head Provisions Co. Inc. is facing a class action lawsuit alleging it misleadingly markets some of its cheese products as “natural” even though they contain ingredients derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Plaintiff Theresa Forsher filed the Boar’s Head class action lawsuit last week in California federal court. She alleges Boar’s Head markets and advertises some of its cheese products as “natural,” but the “natural” claims are deceptive and misleading because their ingredients are derived from GMOs.

GMOs are plants or animals in which genetic material has been altered so that the organism exhibits traits that would not otherwise occur in nature, the Boar’s Head class action lawsuit says. Therefore, products that include GMOs cannot be considered “natural,” according to the complaint. Forsher asserts that most consumers do not expect GMOs to be present in products that are labeled “natural.”

The Boar’s Head class action lawsuit points to a 2015 survey by Consumer Reports National Research Center, which found that most U.S. consumers think the “natural” or “all natural” label on products means they contain no GMOs.

According to the Boar’s Head class action lawsuit, Forsher purchased Boar’s Head cheese products for personal consumption and believed that the products were “natural” as indicated on the packaging. She says she paid a premium price for the “natural” cheese products and that she would not have purchased them if she had known they contained ingredients derived from GMOs.

Forsher alleges the Boar’s Head cheese products she received were worth less than she paid for them. She filed the Boar’s Head class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and a proposed nationwide Class of consumers who purchased Boar’s Head cheese products that allegedly contain GMOs. She also seeks to represent a California Class and a Multi-State Class.

The Boar’s Head cheese products named in the GMO class action lawsuit include:

• Boar’s Head Pecorino Romano
• Boar’s Head French Gruyere
• Boar’s Head Picante Sharp Provolone
• Boar’s Head Fontina
• Boar’s Head Fromaggio Piave
• Boar’s Head Gouda
• Boar’s Head French Brie
• Boar’s Head Creamy Blue
• Boar’s Head Appendaam Swiss Cheese
• Boar’s Head Edam
• Boar’s Head Gruyere
• Boar’s Head Baby Swiss
• Boar’s Head Lacey Swiss
• Boar’s Head Aged Gouda
• Boar’s Head Whole Milk Mozzarella
• Boar’s Head Asiago
• Boar’s Head Butterkase
• Boar’s Head Double Gloucester
• Boar’s Head Cream Havarti
• Boar’s Head Horseradish Cheddar

“Defendant’s false, misleading, and deceptive misrepresentations and omissions are likely to continue to deceive and mislead reasonable consumers and the general public, as they have already deceived and misled Plaintiff and the Class members,” the Boar’s Head class action lawsuit states.

The Boar’s Head cheese lawsuit asserts violations of California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act, California’s False Advertising Law, California’s Unfair Competition Law, the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, breach of express warranty, intentional misrepresentation and fraud, and unjust enrichment.

Forsher is seeking injunctive relief, restitution, disgorgement, compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, declaratory relief, pre-judgment interest, and other relief deemed proper by the court.

Forsher is represented by Michael R. Reese of Reese LLP and by Melissa S. Weiner and Christopher J. Moreland of Halunen Law.

The Boar’s Head GMO Class Action Lawsuit is Theresa Forsher v. Boar’s Head Provisions Co. Inc., Case No. 3:17-cv-04974-EDL, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.