Häagen-Dazs Class Action Says Ice Cream Bars Contain Vegetable Oil

A customer has filed a class action lawsuit against Froneri over claims that the manufacturer uses chocolate mixed with vegetable oil in their Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars.

The Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars class action lawsuit was filed by Theresa Sencen who says she purchased Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Milk Chocolate Ice Cream Bars in September 2019.

Allegedly, she purchased the product believing it to contain only a milk chocolate coating, because that was what was represented on the front of the package.

Additionally, she believed this to be the case because like many other consumers, she understands milk chocolate to not contain vegetable oil.

However, she reportedly later discovered that the product contained vegetable oil. The plaintiff says she and other customers were financially injured by Froneri’s mislabeling of the product because the company passed off a less expensive and less valuable product as a more highly valued one. 

She says the Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars are falsely advertised because they contain vegetable oils, an ingredient which is prohibited in foods advertised as milk chocolate. 

Providing background to her claims, she explains that chocolate is frequently involved in “food fraud.” She says that food fraud occurs when a seller tries to pass off a less expensive and less desirable food off as a more expensive and more desirable food by replacing certain ingredients. This is reportedly done to cut costs and trick customers into buying a product.

Food fraud reportedly occurs in chocolate products when sellers replace chocolate liquor with vegetable oils. Sencen explains that where chocolate liquor is highly valued by customers, vegetable oil is not as highly valued, and is much less expensive.

More than just in its economic value, chocolate liquor imparts a characteristic and desirable taste to chocolate, explains Sencen. She states that chocolate liquor has a smooth and creamy taste, and is more satisfying, whereas vegetable oil’s waxy mouthfeel is less satisfying. 

The plaintiff claims that many retailers attempt to pass off imitation chocolate made with vegetable oil as real chocolate made with cocoa butter.

Because this is allegedly such a pervasive problem and a common attempt by which companies attempt to cut costs, the federal government has implemented “standards for identity.”

These standards reportedly are implemented to help customers know what they are purchasing, and to not require consumers to make technical decisions about the nature of a product’s particular ingredients.

Instead, these standards reportedly allow customers to understand what a product, such as chocolate, is from its name.

The Häagen-Dazs chocolate false ad class action lawsuit explains that because of these standards, customers have come to expect that chocolate products will contain a certain amount of cacao fat.

Reportedly, the standards of identity for chocolate require no less than 15 percent of cocoa fat by weight of chocolate liquor for sweet chocolate, and no less than 20 percent by weight of cacao fat for white chocolate.

In concert with these standards of identity, states and the federal government have adopted labeling requirements that help customers further discern what they are buying — a product that does not meet the standards for identity for chocolate cannot be labeled as chocolate, says Sencen.

The Häagen-Dazs chocolate class action lawsuit explains that when chocolate is used in a coating, as it is in the ice cream bars in question, it is often combined with vegetable oils and fats to lower the melting point of the chocolate and make it easier to apply.

Such is the case in the Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars, which is why Sencen argues that the bars should be labeled as containing a “milk chocolate and vegetable fat coating,” or similar. 

Froneri reportedly only clues customers into the presence of vegetable oil in the bars on the back of the packaging in the ingredient list, says the Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars class action lawsuit.

Allegedly, Froneri is aware that most customers make purchasing decisions very quickly and do not take the time to examine the back of the product before they buy it. Sencen argues that the company takes advantage of this reality in order to make money off of unsuspecting consumers. 

Do you purchase Häagen-Dazs ice cream bars? If so, why do you choose to purchase it over other kinds of ice cream products? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. 

Sencen is represented by Spencer Sheehan of Sheehan & Associates PC. 

The Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream Bars Class Action Lawsuit is Theresa Sencen v. Froneri US Inc., Case No. 7:20-cv-04024, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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