Breyers Delights Class Action Lawsuit: Ice Cream Contains Corn Fiber

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Unilever United States Inc. is facing a class action lawsuit alleging its low-fat Breyers Delights ice cream products include a significant amount of soluble corn fiber rather than dairy products to mimic the flavor of full-fat ice cream.

“People enjoy ice cream due to its sensory attributes, which include a rich sweet flavor, a smooth, creamy, and viscoelastic texture, and a cold sensation that contrasts to the warmth of most other foods,” plaintiff Franco Condon says in the Breyers Delights class action.

Condon says Unilever is able to accomplish this texture and flavor in its Breyers Delights low-fat ice cream products by using significant amounts of soluble corn fiber instead of dairy products.

“By replacing or exchanging the role played by milk fat in ice cream products with a corn fiber, consumers are misled because they expect ice cream to be a dairy product and possess attributes of such a product,” the Breyers Delights lawsuit says.

Condon says that, until the 1990s, any product that included “ice cream” in its name had to meet certain requirements related to ingredients, characteristics and contain at least 10 percent milkfat. Products with less than 10 percent milkfat had to be called “ice milk” instead of “ice cream.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration now allows companies to produce modified versions of standardized foods as long as they are “equivalent from a nutritional and performance standpoint with respect to the standardized food,” the Breyers Delights class action lawsuit states.

According to the Breyers class action, it is possible to formulate reduced-fat ice creams to have about four to five percent fat with traditional ingredients. When ice cream products contain less than this amount of fat, however, manufacturers must use fat replacers to maintain the performance and characteristics of ice cream.

Soluble corn fiber, which is related to maltodextrin, has characteristics that mimic fat and can impart a “creamy mouthfeel to low-fat ice cream products,” the Breyers low fat ice cream lawsuit says.

“Though soluble corn fiber may have functional advantages over other ingredients used to replace the fat content of ice cream, its use in significant amounts renders the representations as ‘low fat ice cream’ false, misleading and deceptive,” the Breyers Delights class action suit says.

According to the Unilever class action lawsuit, soluble corn fiber is listed as the second most predominant ingredient in the Breyers Delights ice cream products.

Condon says the use of soluble corn fiber instead of fat alters the dairy character of ice cream and misleads consumers who expect ice cream to be a dairy product.

The Breyers Delights class action asserts claims for violations of New York consumer protection laws, negligent misrepresentation, fraud, and unjust enrichment.

Condon is represented by Joshua Levin-Epstein of Levin-Epstein & Associates PC and Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates PC.

The Breyers Delights Low Fat Ice Cream Class Action Lawsuit is Franco Condon v. Unilever United States Inc., Case No. 2:18-cv-02977, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.