Breyers Ice Cream Hit With “All Natural” Class Action Lawsuit

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A New Jersey man has filed a false advertising class action lawsuit against Breyers Ice Cream maker Conopco Inc., alleging that the company used the words “all natural” on the ice cream packaging even though it does contain artificial ingredients.

Plaintiff Yosh Jefferson claims that he bought several flavors of Breyers ice cream on different occasions at several different stores.

Jefferson says in his all natural class action lawsuit that he “believed the ice cream he purchased was all natural and relied on” the “all natural” claim made on the packaging.

However, “Breyers has packaged, marketed, advertised and sold its ice cream products as being ‘all natural’ since at least 2008 despite the fact that these products contain alkalized cocoa, a non-natural processed ingredient that contains potassium carbonate, another ingredient that is also non-natural and man made,” he states in his false advertising class action lawsuit.

“Breyers displayed the words ‘all natural’ prominently on the labels of its ice cream products in an effort to promote the sale of these products,” the all natural class action lawsuit states.

“The misrepresentation cultivated the image that Breyers’s ice cream were more wholesome and less artificial than those ice cream products that were not natural.”

According to the Breyers ice cream lawsuit, the word “natural” is defined in Webster’s New World Dictionary as “‘produced or existing in nature; not artificial or manufactured.'”

The New Jersey man contends that food manufacturers use the phrase “all natural” to convey the message that their products are  without “synthetic, chemically altered or man-made ingredients.”

“All natural” also means that a particular product is “a more healthy choice than competing products that contain processed, non-natural and/or synthetic ingredients,” Jefferson argues in his false advertising class action lawsuit.

He also claims that he “paid at least 38 percent more for Breyers Ice Cream compared to similar products not advertised as ‘all natural.'”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration began sending out warning letters concerning the use of the phrase “all natural” and the word “natural” in December 2011 when the federal agency sent a warning letter to Alexia Foods, Inc., citing a misuse of the phrase “all natural” on its Roasted Red Potatoes and Baby Portabella Mushrooms products because the products do contain a synthetic ingredient.

According to the FDA, the term natural should be “truthful and non-misleading when ‘nothing artificial or synthetic . . . has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in the food,” as explained in the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

The federal agency says that misbranding a food “natural” or “all natural” is a violation of the federal law.

This false advertising class action lawsuit is for anyone who purchased Breyers ice cream in the state of New Jersey “labeled all natural but contained alkalized cocoa” on or after June 30, 2008.

Jefferson is charging Breyers with violating the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act, unjust enrichment and common law restitution, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, and violating the Truth in Consumer, Contract, Warranty, and Notice Act.

He is asking for compensatory and statutory damages as well attorney fees.

Jefferson is represented by Bruce Greenberg and Susana Cruz Hodge of Lite DePalma Greenberg LLC.

Counsel information for Conopco was not immediately available.

The Breyers All Natural Class Action Lawsuit is Jefferson v. Conopco Inc., Case No. L-7025-14 in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Bergen County.