Fruit Roll-Ups Deceptive Advertising Class Action Moves Forward

By Sarah Mirando | May 14, 2012

Category: General Mills Class Action Lawsuit and Settlement News

By Sarah Pierce

A federal judge has ruled General Mills, Inc. must defend a class action lawsuit claiming the food company deceived consumers into believing its Fruit Roll-Ups and Fruit by the Foot snacks are made with real fruit.

General Mills tried to dismiss the class action lawsuit, filed in October 2011 by California resident Annie Lam, who is seeking class-action status on behalf of consumers nationwide.

Lam claims in the Fruit Roll-Ups class action lawsuit that General Mills incorrectly described the ingredients of its fruit snacks. For example, “naturally flavored” Strawberry Sensation Fruit Roll-Ups are made with “pears from concentrate,” but not strawberries, the lawsuit says.

The class action lawsuit also alleges the packaging was likely to deceive consumers into believing the snacks are healthful and natural, rather than a combination of artificial, non-fruit ingredients, such as corn syrup, dried corn syrup, sugar and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti agreed with Lam, saying reasonable consumers might be misled by packaging that claimed the snacks are “made with real fruit.”

“The fruit snacks’ ingredients list cannot be used to correct the message that reasonable consumers may take from the rest of the packaging: that the fruit snacks are made with a particular type and quantity of fruit,” Conti wrote.

The General Mills Fruit Roll-Ups Class Action Lawsuit case is Lam v. General Mills, Inc., Case No. 11-cv-05056, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.