Starburst Class Action Challenges Gummies Sours Calorie Labeling

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.

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company has been hit with a class action lawsuit accusing it of mislabeling the calorie count on the label of its Starburst Gummies Sours candies.

Plaintiff Artur Tyksinski alleges Wrigley prints a calorie estimate on the front of the bag that is 10 calories lower than the calorie count included in the nutrition facts.

He says he purchased the Starburst candies, in part, because the label on the front of the package stated that the candy only contains 130 calories per serving.

The nutritional information chart on the back of the package, however, indicated the candies actually contain 140 calories per serving. Tyksinski asserts that this alleged mislabeling of the Starburst candies constitutes misleading marketing and consumer fraud.

One serving of Starburst Gummies Sours is approximately 10 pieces, according to the Starburst class action lawsuit.

According to the Starburst class action lawsuit, Wrigley “designed their packaging deceptively in order to conceal the true caloric value from the front of the package which consumers such as Plaintiff are more likely to consider in advance of their buying decision.”

Tyksinski claims he would not have purchased the Starburst Gummies Sours candies if he had known they contained eight percent more calories than indicated on the front of the package, according to the Starburst class action lawsuit.

“As the manufacturer and distributor of Starburst, Defendants were responsible for determining the caloric value of the product and accurately displaying the true caloric value of the product on the front of the package,” the Starburst class action lawsuit alleges.

“Instead, in an effort to increase profits and prey on calorie-conscious consumers such as Plaintiff, Defendants marketed the product as having 130 calories per serving on the front of the product, typically the side of the product the consumer sees while the product is sitting on the shelf, despite knowing that in reality the product contained 140 calories per serving,” the lawsuit states.

The Starburst Gummies Sours class action lawsuit claims the alleged mislabeling is a violation of the Illinois consumer fraud law and the state’s Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

By filing the Starburst class action lawsuit, Tyksinski seeks to represent himself and a proposed Class of consumers in the United States who purchased a product manufactured by Wrigley that included a lower calorie count on the front label than was indicated on the back of the package. He also seeks to represent an Illinois subclass.

Tyksinski claims there could be “hundreds, if not thousands” of consumers who qualify as Class Members for the Starburst class action lawsuit.

The Starburst class action lawsuit seeks actual damages, treble damages, statutory damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, and injunctive relief.

The Starburst Gummies Sours class action lawsuit was filed Aug. 30 in Cook County Circuit Court.

Tyksinski is represented by Myles McGuire, Eugene Y. Turin and David L. Gerbie of McGuire Law PC.

The Starburst Gummies Sours Calorie Count Class Action Lawsuit is Artur Tyksinski v. Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, Case No. 2017-CH-11877, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.