Taste of Nature Class Action: Cookie Dough Bites Packages Half Empty

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Taste of Nature Inc., the maker of Cookie Dough Bites products, was hit earlier this week with a class action lawsuit alleging it uses deceptive packaging to mislead consumers into believing they contain almost twice as much product than they actually contain.

“The average consumer spends a mere 13 seconds making an in-store purchasing decision,” plaintiff Sierra Gillespie of Redondo Beach, Calif., alleges.

“That decision is heavily dependent on a product’s packaging, and particularly the package dimensions: ‘Faced with a large box and a smaller box, both with the same amount of product inside … consumers are apt to choose the larger box because they think it’s a better value,’” the Cookie Dough Bites class action lawsuit says, pointing to a quote from Brian Wansink, a consumer shopping behavior expert from a 2010 Consumer Reports article about product packaging.

Taste of Nature manufactures the following candy products in 3.1-ounce and 4.0-ounce opaque boxes that are uniformly underfilled or “slack-filled,” according to the class action lawsuit:

• Cookie Dough Bites
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites
• Fudge Brownie Cookie Dough Bites
• Santa’s Village Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites
• Cookies N’ Cream Cookie Dough Bites
• Cinnamon Bun Bites
• Red Velvet Cupcake Bites
• Moon Pie Bites
• Strawberry Dream Bites
• Birthday Cake Cookie Dough Bites
• Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bites
• Muddy Bears
• Shari Candies Cherry Sour Balls
• Despicable Me 2 Sour Gummies
• Sqwigglies
• Hello Kitty Treats

The slack-fill in the Taste of Nature products’ packaging is non-functional, and is therefore misleading under the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, Gillespie alleges.

According to the Cookie Dough Bites class action lawsuit, only about 53 percent of the total volume of the cardboard container is filled with the actual product. Therefore, approximately 47 percent of the packaging is empty space that cannot be attributed to the need to protect the product, unavoidable product settling, or any other functional purpose.

Gillespie notes that the Cookie Dough Bites are contained in a plastic pouch placed inside the cardboard container. According to the Taste of Nature class action lawsuit, this pouch also contains significant slack-fill. If the product were packaged in the cardboard container without the plastic pouch, the container would contain approximately 58 percent slack-fill.

Gillespie says she purchased several Cookie Dough Bites products in August 2017 for a price of $1 each. Because the products were packaged in opaque cardboard containers, she was unable to see how much product was actually inside before she made her purchase.

The Cookie Dough Bites class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of Gillespie and a proposed Class of U.S. consumers who purchased Taste of Nature products that were allegedly packaged with non-functional slack-fill. Gillespie also seeks to represent a California subclass.

The Cookie Dough Bites class action lawsuit asserts claims for Unfair and Unlawful Business Acts and Practices, Deceptive Advertising Practices, violation of the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, and quasi-contract.

Gillespie is represented by Christopher D. Moon and Naomi Spector of KamberLaw LLP.

The Taste of Nature Cookie Dough Bites Class Action Lawsuit is Sierra Gillespie v. Taste of Nature Inc., Case No. 2:18-cv-02105, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.