Kix cereal settlement finally reached 12 years later

Kix cereal settlement overview: 

• Who: General Mills has reached a settlement with consumers who purchased its Kix cereal.
• Why: The plaintiffs claimed the cereal was mislabeled as “natural” because it contains bioengineered corn.
• Where: The Kix cereal class action settlement was filed in a New Jersey federal court.

General Mills has reached a settlement to finally end claims that it deceived consumers by using the phrase “Made with All Natural Corn” on its Kix cereal, when the product actually contains bioengineered corn.

On July 19, New Jersey federal judge Jamel K. Semper ordered the class action lawsuit to be administratively terminated, Law360 reports. 

The order was filed after the parties informed the court they had reached a “settlement in principle” on July 18. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. 

Kix class action comes after decade of litigation

The settlement comes more than a decade after plaintiff Christina Beavens of New Jersey first issued the class action lawsuit against General Mills Inc. in January 2012. 

The complaint alleged that General Mills misled consumers by falsely labeling Kix cereals as being “made with All Natural Corn” when they are actually made with unnatural corn ingredients, including GMO corn plants whose genes have been altered by scientists in a lab.

At the time, General Mills argued that use of the phrase “natural” was simply a matter of opinion, and “has no fixed meaning.” The company added that “there is no verifiable standard or definition of all natural.” 

However the plaintiffs hit back over the legal meaning of the term “all natural.” In a motion, the plaintiffs claimed that bioengineered corn cannot be considered “natural” based on prior decisions from the Supreme Court. The plaintiffs cited Supreme Court cases that describe bioengineered corn as being artificial and synthetic.

Seeking advice on ‘natural’

The judge presiding over the case at the time ruled in 2013 to pause proceedings in order to defer to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on what circumstances food products containing bioengineered corn may be labeled “natural,” following the lead of other similar cases. 

However, the FDA declined to make a determination on the issue at that time and Judge Kevin McNulty reopened the case in January 2014.

In 2016, in light of growing public concern over “all natural” or “natural” labeled products, the FDA began requesting comments relating to the terms on food products. Again, Judge McNulty ruled to stay the action, stating that “the expertise of the FDA is critical.”

The case has been on pause since then. Meanwhile, General Mills stopped using “natural” on its Kix boxes in 2016, Law360 reports.

While details of the settlement agreement have not yet been made public, Top Class Actions will continue following the case, and we will provide claim filing instructions when available. 

What do you think of the General Mills Kix class action settlement? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiffs are represented by Ariana J. Tadler of Tadler Law LLP and Bruce D. Greenberg of Lite Depalma Greenberg & Afanador LLC. 

The General Mills Kix class action settlement is Bevans v. General Mills Inc., Case No. 2:12-cv-00249, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

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